{"id":440,"date":"2026-05-12T18:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=440"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:37:21","slug":"tony-ortiz-joins-2027-race-for-orlando-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=440","title":{"rendered":"Tony Ortiz joins 2027 race for Orlando mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Longtime City Commissioner Tony Ortiz filed paperwork Monday to run for mayor of Orlando, the first city official to declare and the most prominent opponent so far for the presumptive frontrunner, state Rep. Anna Eskamani.<\/p>\n

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Ortiz, long rumored to be eyeing the race to succeed longtime mayor Buddy Dyer, said his platform would develop in the coming weeks and months as he launched the campaign. But said he intended to focus on ways the city government can impact quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat led me to make this decision was listening, listening to residents concerned about affordability, the rising costs of living and working to help strengthen economic corridors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The mayoral position is non-partisan, though voters are generally aware of candidates\u2019 affiliations. Dyer, mayor since 2003, is a Democrat and received nearly 73% of the vote in 2023 against his leading opponent, former Republican state Senate candidate Steve Dixon.<\/p>\n

But Ortiz, a retired Orlando police officer and U.S. Marine veteran, may be able to carve out a position as the centrist choice in contrast to the progressive Eskamani.<\/p>\n

He caused a stir last year when he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, citing his disagreement with GOP positions on immigration, diversity, equity and inclusion policies and the banning of certain books in schools.<\/p>\n

Ortiz has served on the city council for 18 years, representing an east Orlando district along the Semoran Ave. corridor. He said he would have some similarities to Dyer, who has been Mayor for the length of Ortiz\u2019 tenure on the council.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis mayor has been an excellent mayor, and there\u2019s a lot to emulate,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also have my ways of handling things \u2026. there are certain things I probably would do a little differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He marks the fourth candidate to file for the race. Eskamani, also a Democrat, filed in December 2024 and announced Tuesday her campaign had raised more than $1.1 million so far from 25,000 individual donors.<\/p>\n

While not mentioning Ortiz in her Tuesday morning news release, Eskamani said in a statement her campaign was \u201cbuilding a movement that puts Orlando families first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom rent and housing affordability to public safety, transit and protecting our environment. This is what it looks like when a city decides its future belongs to its people,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not running against anyone \u2013 I\u2019m running for the people of Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in the race are Elliot Kahana and Abdelnasser Lutfi.<\/p>\n

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Ortiz said of Eskamani that he has \u201cthe utmost respect for her,\u201d and was looking forward to competing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut I\u2019m not running against her, I\u2019m running to be mayor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime City Commissioner Tony Ortiz filed paperwork Monday to run for mayor of Orlando, making him the latest entrant in a 2027 contest which already features state Rep. Anna Eskamani.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,13,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTony Ortiz joins 2027 race for Orlando mayor - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=440\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tony Ortiz joins 2027 race for Orlando mayor - Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Longtime City Commissioner Tony Ortiz filed paperwork Monday to run for mayor of Orlando, making him the latest entrant in a 2027 contest which already features state Rep. 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