Among the Florida House of Representative districts that include Osceola County, two incumbents in slightly different districts, Democrat Kristen Arrington (District 46) and Republican Fred Hawkins (District 35) were elected to second terms in the State House.
Additionally, just like he did four years ago, Democrat Victor Torres defeated Republican Peter Vivaldi to represent Osceola County in the Florida Senate.
Arrington, who represents much of Kissimmee and Poinciana, won a three-way race with 58% of the vote over Republican Christian De La Torre (39%) and NPA candidate Dr. Ivan Rivera.
Hawkins had to win re-election in two counties, as his new District 35 stretches far into both Osceola and Orange counties. Hawkins narrowly won the Orange district, and carried his Osceola district by more than a 2-to-1 margin. When political experts say that winning re-election is different than winning election, it rang true in this case.
“It was almost 80% a new seat,” Hawkins said Tuesday night. “We had to go back to knocking on doors, and relying on our message of how to keep Florida affordable.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to tackle our state’s insurance issues and continue my work in the education silo, making sure parents are in control of their children’s education.”
Republican Paula Stark, the executive director of St. Cloud Main Street, will represent the new District 47 after defeating Democrat Anthony Nieves by roughly 1,000 votes.
“I’m a little overwhelmed with all the phone calls. I’ve heard from folks here and in Tallahassee tonight,” Stark said Tuesday night of the win in a district that encompasses the city limits of St. Cloud, Buenaventura Lakes and Meadow Woods. “Our strategy worked in getting strong support from (no party affiliation) voters, but my biggest pride is the share of the Hispanic vote we got.”
Stark said she’s eager to work with a true cross-section of an Osceola state delegation — two Republicans and two Democrats — to work on behalf of the community. She said she’s hoping to tackle “A long list” of issues such as transportation concurrency, school funding issues and the teaching shortage, rents for those in mobile home parks and acquiring additional resources for veterans.
“It’s a long list to work on,” she said.
