Central Florida voters reelected six U.S. congressional representatives, and two new U.S. congressional representatives to open seats as well as a new state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and a new property appraiser in Orange County, but mostly reelected incumbents on Tuesday.

Despite a lot of energy and early voting created by record turnouts in balloting, the results did not change much.

Among open congressional seats, Republican Scott Franklin won U.S. House District 15, and Republican Kat Cammack won District 3. Cammack captured 57.2% of the vote against Adam Christensen for the seat that had been held by Ted Yoho. Franklin got 55.5% of the votes in his race against Alan Cohn.

Incumbents Mike Waltz (R-District 6), Stephanie Murphy (D-District 7), Bill Posey (R-District 8), Darren Soto (D-District 9), Val Demings (D-District 10), and Daniel Webster (R-District 11) all were easily reelected.

Democrat Monique Worrell defeated Jose Torroella (No Party Affiliation) in the race for state attorney by capturing 65.7% of the votes. Worrell, who was hired by the state attorney office in advance of the election, replaces Aramis Ayala, who did not run for reelection after a controversial term in office.

Amy Mercado, who defeated incumbent Rick Singh in the Democratic primary, swept to victory with 96.1% of the vote against a write-in candidate.

Sheriffs John Mina (Orange County), Rick Staley (Flagler), Dennis Lemma (Seminole), and Wayne Ivey (Brevard) also were reelected, and Marco Lopez became Osceola County’s first Hispanic sheriff.

Voters Approve 2 of 3 Charter Amendments in Orange County

Orange County voters approved a charter amendment to protect the Split Oak Forest and give activists more time to gather signatures to add a charter amendment to future ballots. But they rejected an amendment to allow governments or residents to sue on behalf of a damaged waterway.

Earlier this year, Orange County and Osceola County commissioners approved the Osceola Parkway Expansion, a 9-mile project by the Central Florida Expressway Authority that would impact 160 acres of the forest.

Construction has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it is unclear what will happen to the project now that this ballot question has passed.

Voters rejected Charter Amendment 1, 72.2% to 27.8%. The amendment's backers were especially focusing on protecting the Wekiva and Econolockhatchee rivers. Opponents said the amendment would be too costly to enforce. 

Voters approved Charter amendment 2, which would prohibit county commissioners from doing anything to the Split Oak Forest, at the Orange-Osceola county border. The amendment is an answer to a plan to expand the Osceola Parkway into a 160-acre piece of the forest. It's not sure what would happen to that plan now. The amendment passed 70% to 30%.

Voters also approved charter amendment 3. This amendment gives residents more time to gather support to put any future charter amendments on a ballot. The amendment passed 61.4% to 38.6%.

Brevard Voters Decide to Keep Surtax to Fund School Repairs

The lack of change extended to an additional tax in Brevard County. Residents there approved a referendum to continue a half-cent surtax by 68.5% to 31.5%.

Funds from the tax goes to help repair public schools, half of which are more than 50 years old. 

Volusia County Elects New Council Chairperson

Jeff Brower, a farmer and businessman, will take the lead on the Volusia County Council after beating the favorite, councilwoman Deb Denys, 57.6% to 42.4%.

The Volusia County chairperson does not run the day-to-day operations of the county; the county manager runs the government. The chairman is considered the ceremonial, if not official, head of the county and presides over council meetings, issues proclamations, executes resolutions, and represents the county in regional affairs.

Brodeur Captures Race for State Senate in District 9

In what might have been one of the most hotly contested races for Florida's Legislature, Republican businessman Jason Brodeur edged out Patricia Sigman and Jestine Iannotti of Winter Springs with 50.3% of the vote.

Longtime Florida Sen. David Simmons is leaving the seat, which includes Seminole County and part of western Volusia County.

The race has been particularly rancorous, with third-party groups attacking Sigman, a labor attorney, with misleading ads, according to her campaign. Democrats, meanwhile, have accused Brodeur and his super PAC of paying money to a local blogger with ties to the Proud Boys, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as an extremist hate group.

Few Issues Were Reported

In Osceola County, a fiber cable cut by a worker putting up a street light near the supervisor of elections delayed election results. As a result, polling locations had to deliver the results to the office on a USB flash drive. 

“This is safer because we’re never connected to the internet this way," said elections supervisor Marry Jane Arrington. "That is quick. And they will be uploaded and we will have full results by the end of the evening.” 

Earlier in the day in Osceola County, Discovery Intermediate School, which was serving as a polling location, went into lockdown as a precaution because SWAT was serving a felony warrant at near the school. Voters were temporarily moved to a different location at the school, and when the lockdown was lifted later, voting continued as expected.

In Lake County just after the polls opened, voters in "some" Lake County precincts were incorrectly showing in the computer system as not registered for that precinct, Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays said problems with some of the machines rejected some voters. However, the machines were repaired, and balloting continued without problems.