Lake County Commission Chair Leslie Campione is running against Democrat Egor Emery and write-in challenger Tommie ‘Ray’ Powers in November to represent District 4, which contains the more rural northern part of the county along with Mount Dora and Umatilla.
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The current District 4 representative, Campione, a Republican, defeated challenger David Williamson in August’s GOP primary with over 61% of the vote.
The owner of her own private law practice in Mount Dora, Campione was first elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 2010 and was selected to serve as chair in 2018.
Democrat Egor Emery is a Eustis resident, arborist, tree farmer, sawyer and longtime owner of Speedway Safety Crew Inc., which manages safety operations for motorsports events.
Independent write-in candidate Tommie Powers is the president of the Lake County Historical Society and was a member of the Lake County Board of Adjustment before its dissolution in June 2026.
Campione, a resident of unincorporated Eustis, said re-prioritizing and accelerating infrastructure projects as one of her top issues and said she supports relieving congestion on county roads by pushing the state to replace outdated funding formulas.
She also called for cities to honor the county’s Future Land Use Map to protect rural areas from increased development.
Responding to the questionnaire, Campione also argued she deserves to be re-elected for her role in putting Lake County residents first by fighting back against tax increases and growth measures that negatively impact their quality of life.
“Locally, we have to be constantly looking for ways to deliver essential services in the most efficient way possible to keep local government costs down,” she wrote. “Focusing on getting homeowners’ insurance premiums lowered through immediate measures — versus the usual ‘this will cause the rates to come down’ type measures — would be the most impactful way to address affordability.”
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Emery, a former member and president of the Lake County Conservation Council, is running a campaign focused on protection of water quality and resources, responsible growth management, protection of the county’s rural boundaries, and local control of growth decisions.
“I’ve been active in growth issues for more than 30 years and I ran against [Campione] 16 years ago on a plan to talk about managing growth in a responsible way,” he said. “Clearly, we haven’t done that.”
Emery expressed disappointment in decisions the state Legislature has made to “take power away from localities” and said he believes developers have “excessive influence” at the state and local level.
“I’m interested in home rule and I believe cities and counties need the power to determine what the community is going to look like in the future,” he said. “I don’t think we have that currently.”
Emery said he uses well water for his home and does not feel necessary steps have been taken to protect Lake County from future water use concerns, an issue he plans to address if elected.
“By paving over areas of potential recharge to the aquifer and by the increased demand for water from all the new developments, we are facing a real water problem in Lake County,” he said.
Powers has no official campaign website or social media page for his candidacy and did not respond to an earlier request for comment from the Orlando Sentinel.
The election is on Nov. 3. Early voting in Lake County began Monday and continues through Oct 31.
Contact me at [email protected] and (407)-754-4980.