Depending on the neighborhood, some Orange County Commission District 7 voters have received candidate Vicki Vargo’s mailers declaring she is the “only conservative on the ballot” and asking if they are “tired of radical left politics?”
But, on other doors, Vargo has left behind mailers with a handwritten note that says, “I am a Democrat. Please vote for me.”
So which is it?
Is Vargo a Democrat or Republican as she advances to the November runoff for the nonpartisan Orange County Commission seat?
Vargo is a newly registered Democrat. She was a longtime Republican until she switched parties Nov. 24, 2025, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections’ Office.
“I have a Democrat heart, a Republican mind, and an Independent spirit,” Vargo told Florida Politics. “That’s why I’ve never run for a state or federal House or Senate seat because neither party would be happy with me. … I’m in the middle.”
Vargo’s mailers have annoyed some Democrats who complain she is playing both sides for political gain as she knocks on doors.
“I realize the word conservative isn’t the same as the word Republican, but it’s implied,” said Becky Schaff, who lives in District 7 and is a member of the local Democratic Party. “It felt very disingenuous and dishonest to me. It is not a partisan race so it’s not supposed to be about partisanship but in this case she’s leaning on partisanship in both directions trying to get people’s votes.”
Vargo argues her campaign literature is meant to convey that she is a fiscal conservative. She insists she is a Democrat, though not a progressive one.
“Moderates need to have a voice. We don’t need everybody on the Orange County Commission to be left,” said Vargo, who is self-funding her campaign and argues there are plenty of residents just like her who are leaving the Republican Party.
Vargo, a real estate lawyer who grew up in a blue-collar family, previously won public office as a registered Republican when she ran for the Orlando City Council in 2000.
She made headlines when she voted against a 25% pay increase as a City Commissioner soon after she was elected. She set aside her raise in an office account to spend on her district instead, earning praise from the Orlando Sentinel editorial board in a piece titled “A Woman of Her Word.”
Vargo’s campaign literature invoking “radical left policies” cost her a spot in the Orange County Democratic Party’s voter guide for this election cycle. This Summer, the Orange County Democratic Party steering committee voted unanimously to remove Vargo from the voter guide.
“We put a lot of money into these voter guides. People trust us to tell them who the Democrats are and a person that is slandering the Democratic Party in mailers, that’s not something we take lightly,” said Jarred Cornell, who was the party’s interim Chair when the decision was made.
Did it matter that Vargo was once a registered Republican?
Cornell said the committee was aware of her Republican history but added that was not the primary factor in her omission.
“Look at David Jolly for example. He’s a former Republican and he’s our Democratic (gubernatorial) nominee and we’ve never done anything,” Cornell said. “But David Jolly was not sending out mailers to the community saying that we had crazy liberals running and that he was the only conservative on the ticket.”
The Orange County Democratic Party officially endorsed Vargo’s November runoff opponent, Patricia Rumph, who is also a Democrat.
But Cornell made clear he holds no animosity toward Vargo.
“I know Vicki Vargo is a good person. I know she cares about the community and she has the trust of a lot of people in District 7 which is why she’s in the runoff,” Cornell said. “I think that she’s running her race in the way that she thinks she needs to and I understand that. I have no bad blood with Vicki. She’s been kind and cordial with me.”
Gabrielle Russon is an award-winning journalist based in Orlando. She covered the business of theme parks for the Orlando Sentinel. Her previous newspaper stops include the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Toledo Blade, Kalamazoo Gazette and Elkhart Truth as well as an internship covering the nation’s capital for the Chicago Tribune. For fun, she runs marathons. She gets her training from chasing a toddler around. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter @GabrielleRusson .
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