Chris Messina, businessman and candidate for Orange County mayor

Chris Messina’s vision for greater Orlando and Orange County is to see it become one of the top metropolitan areas in America with a diversified economic base, vibrant, safe neighborhoods and efficient, transparent government. 

Messina is a tech entrepreneur and education philanthropist with more than 30 years of business experience. He successfully founded and ran several medical technology businesses and served on multiple boards, among them industry consortiums, hospitals and educational nonprofits. 

Messina has been married for over 20 years to his wife, Julie. They have three children – two at colleges in Florida and one at an Orange County Christian school, where he serves as a volunteer football coach. 

He has an MBA from Harvard, a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University.

Tiffany Moore Russell, former Orange County Clerk of Courts, candidate for Orange County mayor  

Tiffany Moore Russell, a native of Orlando, Florida, made history in 2014 as the first African American female Clerk elected in Florida and the first African American clerk in Orange County. She resigned to run for mayor of Orange County in 2026 and received 32 percent of the vote in the Aug. 18 primary.

Elected to the Orange County Commission to represent District 6 in November 2006, Russell made history by becoming the youngest county commissioner ever elected to serve on the Orange County Commission. She served two terms on the County Commission (2006-2014). 

She received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of South Florida and a Juris Doctor from Florida State University College of Law.

As commissioner and now as a constitutional officer, Russell has a strong commitment to her community. Trained as an attorney, she understands that access to the justice system is crucial, especially for those in the community who are economically challenged. That understanding led her to create the Lydia Gardner Self Help Center. Named in honor of a former Orange County clerk, the center is the first of its kind in Orange County and provides low-cost legal assistance in the areas of family law, residential evictions and small claims to those who are not represented by an attorney.

In response to her outstanding contributions to the justice system, the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association honored Clerk Russell with the 2024 Trailblazer Award. She was also honored with the Guardian Care 2024 Women Breaking Barriers and Blazing Trails Award, and she was featured in the Legacy of Excellence: Phenomenal Black Women in Central Florida exhibit.   

Russell is past president of the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers Association 2024-2025 Board of Directors. She was also sworn in to serve another term on the Executive Council of the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation, which is a statutory entity that oversees Florida clerks’ budgets.