Roger Chapin was elected Tuesday to the Orlando City Council, riding a well-funded campaign, decades of name recognition and powerful backers to a narrow victory.
Chapin won the District 3 race with about 51% of the vote, with just 200 votes separating him from his opponent Mira Tanna out of more than 7,500 cast.
He joins the elected body in the midst of a transition as one of two brand-new commissioners to be sworn in at the start of next year, along with Tom Keen in District 1. Shan Rose, who held office on an interim basis, also won a full term to represent District 5 in November.
Mayor Buddy Dyer is also retiring in 2027, and other commissioners are weighing their futures as well.
The nonpartisan race was initially a five-way contest, with Chapin and Tanna, both Democrats, receiving the most votes and advancing to a head-to-head runoff. Just 14 votes separated the two in November.
District 3 voters in neighborhoods such as College Park, Audubon Park, Baldwin Park, and Rosemont were bombarded with text messages, mail advertisements, and robust door-to-door campaigns over several months.
Chapin, the son of former Orange County mayor Linda Chapin, secured endorsements from the third and fourth-place finishers in the November race, as well as Dyer, retiring city commissioner Robert Stuart, Orange County Sheriff John Mina, and unions representing the city’s police and fire fighters.
Tanna shored up the progressive wing of the local Democratic party, with backing from state Rep. Anna Eskamani, the lone candidate so far for city mayor in 2027, as well as U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, and labor unions representing city hall workers.
Mira Tanna is pictured at her election party at Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company in Orlando on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. She lost to Roger Chapin for an Orlando city council seat.(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Tanna is Orlando’s grants manager and was named one of the city’s employees of the year in 2021. She was credited with a 67% increase in grant funding.
Tanna, a Lynx rider, had a platform centered on expanding transit in Orlando, where the regional bus service lacks a designated funding source and its commuter rail line doesn’t run on nights and weekends.
Chapin, a longtime executive for Mears Transportation who now owns his own communication business, had unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2003. Since then, he’s volunteered on numerous influential boards, including Orlando’s Municipal Planning Board, and currently sits on the board of the Orlando Utilities Commission.
He said he wants to advocate for transit expansion as well as wider sidewalks for safer walking and biking in key parts of the district, including Edgewater, Corinne and Virginia Drives. He also wants review city policies that could help with affordability.
Chapin raised $293,000 toward the contest, compared to $114,000 for Tanna.
Turnout was 22.8%. All results reported Tuesday night are considered unofficial until they’re certified by the canvassing board Friday.
