ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Randolph Bracy and Lavon Bracy Davis are taking their brothers’ rivalry to a new level as brothers and sisters compete against each other in the Florida Senate race on Tuesday.
Not only that, one of the opponents of the Democratic nomination in a district that represents parts of Metro Orlando is Alan Grayson, a fighting former Democrat who attracted public attention in 2009 when the Republican Health Care Plan said he would die soon.
The headline-winning candidate runs in the special primary for the seat held by Geraldine Thompson, a pioneering veteran MP who passed away earlier this year after complications from knee plant science surgery. The fourth candidate is also running in the Democratic primary, personal injury lawyer Colletta Anthony Smith.
The winner will face Republican Willie Montague in September for a general election in a Democrat-controlled district. Black voters account for more than half of the district’s registered Democrats.
Both brothers have experience in the state legislature. Bracey Davis was the state representative, and Blasie was a former senator. In addition to the family dynamics, the brother’s mother, civil rights activist Lavon Wright Bracy, was the maid of honor at Thompson’s wedding and one of her oldest friends. She supported her daughter on her son.
The brothers’ family has been active in Orlando’s civic lives for decades. Their father, Randolph Bracey Jr., was the local NAACP president, founder of Baptist Church in Orlando and director of the religious department at Bethune Cookman University.
It was not the first time a family had been caught up in competing support. When Bracey and Thompson faced each other in the Democratic primary in the state Senate race last year, Blasie Davis approved Thompson over her brother. The campaign flyer, recently sent by a Republican political op, begins with “Bracy Yourself!”
Bracie, 48, who once played professional basketball in Turkey, told the Orlando Sentinel that her sister was “unfortunate and hurtful” that she would run after he announced her bid. But training attorney Bracy Davis, 45, said he is running for people in the state Senate District 15, not against other candidates. She said she intends to continue Thompson’s legacy of promoting voter rights and increasing pay for public school teachers. Thompson’s family supports Bracy Davis.
Grayson was elected to Congress in 2008 and was voted in 2010. Voters sent him back to Congress in 2012, but he gave up his seat due to a 2016 Senate failure
