Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has officially filed to run for governor, election records show.

Demings immediately becomes one of the frontrunners to be the Democratic nominee next year as candidates line up to succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who faces term limits and can’t run again. In all, 29 candidates now fill the field, though the vast majority are long shots.

The top-line name on the Democratic side is David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who left the party in President Donald Trump’s first term, joined the Democratic party in April and filed to run for governor.

On the Republican side, Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is among the front runners, along with former House speaker Paul Renner. Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins has acknowledged he’s heavily considering joining the race, and First Lady Casey DeSantis has been rumored as a possibility.

Soon after he filed, Demings already faced incoming fire from Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who dinged the county mayor for what the CFO has deemed “wasteful spending.”

Ingoglia, a Republican, has circled the state criticizing cities and counties for allegedly overtaxing residents and having too-large budgets.

“Mayor that wastefully and excessively spends $200m of your hard earned taxpayer dollars (this year alone) wants to control the state budget,” he tweeted.

Demings has criticized Ingoglia and the state in response to Ingoglia’s DOGE audit. “We’re not running away from what we pay our staff here in Orange County, I’m going to suggest the state of Florida should pay its employees better,” Demings said in September.

Demings wasn’t available for an interview. A spokesperson said he wouldn’t be commenting Monday on entering the contest.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/11/03/orange-county-mayor-jerry-demings-is-running-for-governor/