Democratic State House Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis announced on Friday her plans to run for the State Senate seat previously held by the late Democratic lawmaker Geraldine Thompson, a longtime fixture in regional politics who died last month at 76, following surgery complications.
Before she died, Thompson explicitly said she wanted Davis to replace her once she left office, according to members of Thompson’s family who attended Davis’s campaign launch event in Parramore. A crowd of some 50 people gathered for the announcement, held outside the Wells’ Built Museum of African American History and Culture, which Thompson founded.
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“She believed that Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, ‘LBD,’ was the best fit to be an advocate and a spokesperson for the constituents of Florida Senate District 15,” said Thompson’s daughter, Elizabeth Thompson Grace.
Speaking at Friday’s event, Grace became briefly emotional, describing the loss of her mother as “an extraordinary loss for the community.”
“Some lost a mentor, some lost an advisor, some lost an historian,” Grace said. “But I lost my mother.”
Also on Friday, Davis announced her intent to rename a section of Orlando’s South Street after Thompson. An amendment Davis filed to Senate Bill 274, now on its second reading in the state legislature, would dub that section of the road “Geraldine Thompson Way.”
The relationship between the Thompson and Davis families spans generations. Thompson was college roommates with Davis’s mother, LaVon Wright Bracy said Friday, calling her former roommate “a dear friend.”
Of her daughter, Bracy said, “LaVon Bracy Davis is ready for this moment.”
“Even as a young child, [Davis] was an advocate for justice and fairness, negotiating on the behalf of her classmates and friends,” Bracy said. “I knew she was bound to be an attorney when I saw her successfully debating her teachers in elementary school.”
Davis was formerly a senior attorney for Florida’s Department of Children and Families. She also previously worked as a senior director of community programming for Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, according to Davis’s LinkedIn profile.
In her bid for Thompson’s Senate seat, Davis will be running against her brother, Randolph Bracy III, who previously represented Florida’s Senate District 11 from 2016-2022. Last November, Bracy lost to Thompson in the Democratic primary race for Senate District 15.
“I love my brother and I wish him well,” Davis said, responding to reporters who asked Friday about the siblings running against one another.
“I am not going to be running against anyone. I'll be running for the people of Senate District 15,” Davis said.
Meanwhile, Bracy called the news of his sister’s candidacy “shocking” in a written statement:
“This is a sad day for the Bracy name. My sister choosing to run against me dishonors our father’s legacy in every way possible. I will not disparage our Father; who believed in this family, by debating my sister in any format. People know my record, and I will continue to walk and live in the light, by putting the people over power.”
The siblings’ late father, Randolph Bracy, Jr., formerly served as president of the Orange County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as a founding member of the New Covenant Baptist Church of Orlando.
Current and formerly elected state leaders showed up Friday to support LaVon Bracy Davis, including Sen. Shevrin Jones, Rep. Anna Eskamani and former Sen. Victor Torres, all Democrats. Among others, also in attendance were State Attorney Monique Worrell, Orange County School Board member Stephanie Vanos and Adam Seithel, Third District Vice President of Florida Professional Firefighters.
Davis’s current term ends next year. Meanwhile, a timeline for the special election necessary to replace Thompson’s seat remains unclear, Davis said.
“We're waiting on the governor. So if you have his direct line, feel free to call him,” Davis told reporters Friday.
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