ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – If Orange County Democrats had to pick a clear winner for the party’s 2020 presidential race after the first Democratic debate of the election season, it would be a virtual tie between Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Kamala Harris.
Party Chair Wes Hodge said Harris and Warren each received 22% of the vote from local Democrats who attended watch parties for the presidential debate held in Miami.
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Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro just missed making it a three-way tie, earning 21% of the vote from watch party attendees.
Hodge said the debates were "a real discussion of issues facing Americans.”
Hodge said the Democrats are moving to bring in roughly 200,000 new voters between now and the March primary.
“Orange County and the I-4 corridor are key to winning the White House in 2020,” Hodge said, “We are prepared to do everything in our power to make it happen.”
The party’s front-runners, former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, rounded out the top five finishers.
Below are the results of the unofficial straw poll.
Vote Totals:
- Harris 21 votes -- (22.1%)
- Warren 21 votes -- (22.1%)
- Castro 20 votes -- (21.1%)
- Biden 9 votes -- (9.5%)
- Buttigieg 8 votes -- (8.4%)
- Sanders 6 votes -- (6.3%)
- O’Rourke 5 votes -- (5.3%)
- Inslee 2 votes -- (2.1%)
- Klobuchar 2 votes -- (2.1%)
- Bennett 1 vote -- (1.1%)
No other candidates received votes.