Fiscal conservative, pro-police Iliana Jones flips Central Florida commissioner seat
WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Winter Garden City Commissioner Ron Mueller lost his reelection bid Tuesday night with the victory of Iliana Ramos Jones in District 2.
Jones ran on supporting police, lowering crime, enacting “fiscally conservative” policies and more.
While a nonpartisan race, Mueller, the incumbent, was backed by the Orange County Democrats.
Jones won 52.61%-47.39%, according to unofficial results. The margin was only 57 votes.
“Thank you Ron Mueller for running an inspiring campaign,” the Florida Democratic Party said Tuesday night. “Though the result wasn’t what we hoped for, your campaign was marked by dedication and service to our community.”
Other top issues for Jones include bringing the community together as a “family” and protecting the area’s green spaces by maintaining “low density” housing.
Jones’ platform also included retaining Winter Garden’s “small town charm.”
A statement on Mueller’s campaign website congratulated Jones.
“Commissioner-Elect Jones now stands ready to serve every member of our community,” Mueller said. “I encourage each of you to extend to her the same patience, support, and kindness you graciously afforded me when I began my tenure.”
While a nonpartisan race, with the Democratic-supported candidate losing, the result is another blow to state Democrats’ hopes to “take back Florida.”
Just last month, GOP-backed candidates across the state defeated around half of those Democratic-backed candidates – most of whom were simply defending blue seats.
Republicans scored flips in the politically competitive city of Clearwater and the blue city of Delray Beach. In other locations, like Winter Garden, Winter Park, Pembroke Pines and Boca Raton, Republicans and Democrats largely held their seats.
“The [Democrats] and [Fried] made a big deal about their ‘take back local’ team which was just defending their own democratic seats,” said Evan Power, chairman of the Florida GOP. “Well we defeated 42% of them.”
