ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings will hold an “announcement rally” next week.
The event is planned for Thursday evening.
Details about the event are limited, but the mayor is expected to “share an important announcement and outline our vision for the future.”
Speculation has been that Demings is considering a run for Florida governor. He has been coy about a possible campaign in the last two months, even as he sparred with Gov. DeSantis and CFO Blaise Ingoglia over county government spending and the DOGE audit.
[WATCH: Florida CFO, Orange County mayor cite conflicting numbers in DOGE battle]
In September, amid the back and forth with Ingoglia, Demings made perhaps his first public hint.
“I’m not saying I’m not going to run. Given all these things that have been happening? I might just do that,” he said.
In speaking to News 6 earlier this month, Demings was coy again.
“I’ll make an announcement soon about the decision I made, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said.
Demings was elected as the first African American mayor in December 2018 and reelected in 2022. Before that, he served as Orange County sheriff, and county director of public safety.
If Demings does indeed run for governor, he would run against Republican congressman-turned Democrat David Jolly in a Democratic primary.
Republican candidates include the Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner.
Meanwhile, five candidates have filed to run in 2026 to replace Demings as Orange County mayor: Stephanie Murphy, the former congresswoman from Winter Park, Orange County Clerk of Courts Tiffany Moore Russell, District 3 County Commissioner Mayra Uribe, tech businessman Chris Messina and Randy Fust Jr.
The Orange County mayoral race is a nonpartisan race.