A former consultant for Disney and other Fortune 500 companies on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts has upset Republican incumbent Rep. Carolina Amesty in House District 45, weeks after she was indicted for forgery.
Leonard Spencer, a former Disney employee who most recently headed up a diversity and sustainability effort at the popular company, is winning by 1,596 votes over Rep. Amesty. That's a 1.68 percentage point lead, placing the race just outside the required recount margin of a half percentage point.
HD 45 is a Central Florida seat encompassing parts of Orange and Osceola Counties. While all votes in Orange County have been tallied, there are still 133 ballots remaining in Osceola. Regardless, Spencer will take the seat from Amesty, who was indicted for forgery.
She denies all charges against her.
Spencer picking up the seat is key for Florida Democrats, who were utterly shellacked at the state and federal level on Election Night. Democrats needed to pick up five state House seats to break the Republican supermajority. Instead, Florida overwhelmingly voted for President-elect Donald Trump, incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scott, and upset Democrat state Rep. Tom Keen in HD 35.
Republicans may also have upset Rep. Katherine Waldron in HD 93 in Palm Beach County, who is down by just 358 votes to Republican challenger Anne Gerwig. That race, which is within a 0.40% margin, is likely headed to a recount if results stand. There are still some vote-by-mail ballots that need to be counted in the South Florida county.
Spencer will be sworn in on Nov. 19.
