Regina Hill defeats Juan Lynum to win Orlando’s District 5 seat

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) – By a margin of roughly 10 percent, Regina Hill has defeated Juan Lynum in a runoff election to determine who will represent the residents of Orlando’s District 5.

Lynum was widely considered the favorite, but he was forced into a runoff election with Hill on April 8, after he failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote.

The race had been closely watched, because Lynum is the son of longtime City Commissioner Daisy Lynum, who is stepping down after 16 years of public service.  She qualified to run for reelection early, and it discouraged many challengers. In the last hour of the last day of qualifying, Juan Lynum entered the race. The following Monday, Daisy Lynum withdrew, seemingly clearing the path for her son. 

Hill, who is an admitted former drug addict with a lengthy arrest record, finished very close to Lynum in last month’s election. She has said all along that her past should not haunt her but make her a better person and able to understand and help the people in the district.

With just over 2,150 voting in the runoff election, Hill defeated Lynum by almost 200 votes, or 55 percent to 45 percent.  Hill won both absentee ballots and a majority of votes cast at the polls on Tuesday.

RESULTS ON ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISOR OF ELECTION’S WEBSITE