Secret Democratic Redistricting Effort Indicates Val Demings’ Run for Mayor Is Back-Up Option

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Secret Redistricting Effort “Engagement Letter” seeking Parramore plaintiffs to help Val Demings run for Congress, addressed November 2013. (page 1)

Newly obtained legal documents and information coming from Parramore voters indicate that Val Demings’ run for Orange County Mayor against Teresa Jacobs was actually her “plan B” as the Democrat also has her sights on Congress.  

It is no secret Val was/is contemplating running for Congress since her last bid. There’s been speculation for months that Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (head of the DNC) was interested in using Florida’s new Fair Districts amendments to tweak congressional lines — specifically Dan Webster’s district. The plan was to pull African-American voters from Congresswoman Corrine Brown’s district using Fair Districts amendment to win a court case and increase minority voters in Webster’s district.

Tweaking the lines just enough to make it competitive for Val Demings to run again, let’s say.

But the “speculation” ended with legal documents obtained in November 2013 — and when representatives for Perkins Coie starting reaching out to voters in Parramore, Orlando’s historic African-American community.  Perkins Coie represents the National Democratic Redistricting Trust and is connecting to redistricting efforts across the country. The firm even had “engagement letters” ready for voters to sign and return to them to begin the process (see below). The voters were confused and not interested, but the letters are written as if the interest originated locally.

Calls were made to voters reminding them how close Val Demings was to winning and how great it would be to have a district that she could represent. That’s right, they used Val’s name specifically and talked about how close she came in 2012 and how a little change could put her in Congress. The firm’s representatives were encouraging Parramore voters to join a lawsuit as plaintiffs to make this happen. All they needed was a local plaintiff.

But this is where several problems surfaced for the Demings redistricting effort. First, Parramore voters are not too happy with local Democratic elected officials like Buddy Dyer. Needless to say, many African-Americans living in Parramore are currently very upset with the local Democratic Party for lack of inclusion and very upset with Democratic Mayor Buddy Dyer who is gentrifying the neighborhood with sports stadiums. These factors led to instant hesitation of the proposed redistricting scheme.

It also did not help that Val Demings supports the recent insider corporate welfare deal for a new soccer stadium which will further gentrify Parramore. Or the fact that the Orlando Police Department does not carry the best relationship with community members and many remember Val’s time at OPD under Dyer. They honestly said they couldn’t see much of a difference having Demings since she never championed the interests of the people of Parramore.

This effort was desperate for plaintiffs if they were calling voters in Parramore and sending out engagement letters in mid-November 2013. And clearly, this effort came up short.

The voters decided not to be part of the redistricting lawsuit and then the holidays arrived. Now, is Val Demings simply moving forward with her second option: stay relevant until 2016 by running for Orange County Mayor?

It will be interesting to see if any congressional redistricting effort moves forward now that Val has committed to the County race. Or if Rep. Corrine Brown will be happy to learn about this going on in her district and what her response may be. Of course, we will all wait and see if Val’s “plan B” pays off for her political career.

Val Demings officially kicked off her campaign for County Mayor today.

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