District 5 seat: Who are the potential candidates, when could special election be

ORLANDO, Fla. - The city of Orlando will soon discuss the future of the District 5 seat and community members are announcing their intentions to run.

On Monday, the City of Orlando will have a special city council meeting to discuss plans for a special election for the District 5 city commissioner seat. The seat is empty after City Commissioner Regina Hill was suspended from office following an arrest last week. She’s facing seven charges including elderly exploitation and fraud.

"I do want to throw my hat in the ring," said Community Activist Miles Mulrain. "Nobody was expecting this to happen. No one prayed or wished for it to happen. But now that this opportunity is happening, this is something that I'm stepping up for."

Mulrain is from Paramore and has been a community activist in Orlando for many years. He organized peaceful protests in 2020 and runs the organization ‘Let Your Voice Be Heard’.

"What I want to bring back to District 5 is to bring it back up. These historic neighborhoods bring it back up, these homeowners and these people who are residents here and focusing on how we can build up one another," said Mulrain.

Community Advocate Shaniqua Shan Rose has also announced she would like to run for Hill's seat and be on the ballot for the potential special election.

"I do fully intend to run in the seat and run in a special election and be able to represent this community," Rose said to FOX 35 Orlando Monday night.

Rose ran against Hill in 2021. She lives in Paramore and used to work for the City of Orlando before leaving to focus on her non-profit ‘Change for the Community’.

"The beating of the streets has never stopped. So, I just continue to beat the streets a little bit harder and as opposed to just hearing concerns, now I want to take your concerns to council and be a member to represent everyone in this community," she continued.

A special election has not officially been called but the city says the tentative date for the election will be May 21. The city will announce the plans and timeline after the special city council meeting on Monday.

Lucy Melendez with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office says preparations will ramp up once a date is set.

"Once we know the date, we definitely start reaching out to polling places within those five precincts to set their location to get contracts going, and then to start scheduling our poll workers to go ahead and work on that election, assist with any training that's needed for these poll workers, and to have a successful election," she said.

Melendez suggests that voters make sure they are registered to vote and also renew their vote by mail request if they’d like to vote that way.

Potential candidates are encouraging voters to get out to the polls when the date is set.

"We always focus on presidential elections, but local elections matter," said Mulrain. "In a city hall every month they're talking about your rent, they're talking about what's coming to the area, talking about the schools. They're talking about how much money they're going to divert towards the places that we inhabit. So it's very important."