August 12, 2026 • 9 mins
Meet the Candidate: Christopher Messina for Orange County Mayor
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Highest judy copier and I am the market president in
Central Florida. And we're here today with Chris Messina, who
was running for Orange County mayor.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you, Yeah, great to be here. Yeah. So the
reason I'm running, if you want me to dive right
into that, I'll tell us. Yeah, I'm running because fundamentally,
we need a new vision here in Central Florida, not
another recycled politician in Orange County is really the beating
heart of the free state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
So what really prompted you to run?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So will? I ran once before. I was a runner
up to Jerry Demmigs four years ago. And the reason
I ran then was because I felt like there was
some constitutional overreach during the era of the mandates. And
also I felt like it was unnecessary to raise taxes
to address every problem. In that case, he wanted to
raise taxes to address issues with transportation. Thought that was destructive, regressive,
(00:48):
and unnecessary. And so now i've as I've really dug
into county politics. I became vice chair of Orange County Watch,
which is a good government watchdog here in Orange County.
I realized that we still have the same problem that
politicians want more money to address every problem and don't
(01:08):
think about it creatively. In addition, I came to learn
that we have the lowest median income of any major
metropolitan area in the country, so we were fifth, yet
we've moved up one tick according to the Bureau for
Labor Statistics, We're now in number forty nine, and that's
a terrible place to be given all of our resources.
(01:29):
That's why I ran because I have a lot of
business experience. I have an NBA from Harvard, I have
a master's in city planning. I've run founded and run
high tech businesses, trade associations and foundations that have generated
thousands of good jobs. And I thought I have some abilities,
and I've felt this call from God really to use
(01:50):
them to help the county. And you know, my ambition
is not to be a long term politician. I think
we have a great governor in my opinion, and I'm
not looking to replace him to you know, go for
his office down the road. I'm just really focused on
seeing Range County become a great place where children, families,
and businesses thrive.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So you've identified some key issues. Talenting, absolutely, what would
you do to address them? So Number one, we have to.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
We have to make things more affordable. But the way
we do that Number one to me is we reduce
the cost burden of government on our people. And so
by that I mean I am supporting the amendment, the
property tax Amendment number three. I'm the only candidate running
for Range County mayor that's supporting it. I believe we
can run really efficiently as a government. We currently Range
(02:39):
County's budget revenues are eight point three billion. They're projected
to go to nearly nine billion next year. We can
we can learn to live a little more conservatively and
let people keep more of their hard earned money on
their houses so they can pay less tax and still
protect fire, police first responders.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
All.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
We just need to run more efficiently and think about
using technology to solve some of our problems instead of
always going for more and more taxes.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So what would be your top three priorities if elected? Sure?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So Number one is to bring in a range of
really good jobs to complement what we have here, particularly
in space tech. I see a future for Orange County
as a space tech leader of the United States. We're
working really hard right now to bring We've been working
on this for about a year to bring the first
military academy in the South, the Space Force Academy right
here to Orange County. That'll spin off immediately a billion
(03:35):
dollars a year in the ancillary revenue as well as
kickstart a lot of businesses. And we have UCF her
it's seventy two thousand students. It calls itself Space U.
We're really going to leverage that so creating these great jobs.
First in space tech, number two in trades. So we
have a shortage of trade workers in Orange just in
(03:55):
Orange County, two thousand, shortage of two thousand trades workers.
To provide a partially subsidized, well fully subsidized at first,
but with a payback clause trade school education for everybody
who wants one, starting from junior in high school through
middle middle age. And what that means is that people
will have an opportunity to have a really good, satisfying
(04:19):
job working with their hands. And a third year plumber,
for instance, with their certifications, makes one hundred thousand dollars
a year on average, So there are really really good
opportunities in the trades. Mike Rowe, you know, the famous
guy who focuses on the trades, just sees that there's
going to be a boom in trades and we can't
(04:40):
have a we can't have a twenty first century economy
without people who can build things, So that crediting jobs.
Number two is that we need to What I've mentioned
before is we need to cut costs in government. We
need to run government more efficiently. We've got a forensic
accounting team that we're building, and we're going to go
in and and basically get rid of waste and bureaucracy
(05:03):
in county government so we can invest where we need
to without having to raise taxes, and indeed while accommodating
a property tax cut, which is on the ballot in November.
And I really hope and I encourage everybody listening to
this to support that amendment. It's Amendment three. Number three
is we're going to revitalize our assets, our county assets.
(05:24):
So for example, our links bus system is very inefficient.
You have problems with transportation, but what we need to
do is down right size our buses. They're too large
for the spread out metropolitan area that we have, So
keep a few of the large buses, but mostly go
to smaller technology equipped buses so that we can shift
(05:49):
from a hub and spoke model to a point to
point model, so that people like my friend who I
met and a young guy I met in Pine Hills
who was waiting two hours to get He was waiting
for his bus, so we had to wait half hour
or so, and then the bus takes two hours for
him to get to his job at the airport. Why
because we're using a very inefficient model where he goes
to Central Deepot and then has to switch to another bus.
(06:12):
So that we're going to re engineer that. It's something
I've been calling for for actually five years, and Seminole
has just started to do it with something called Scout
number two on revitalizing our assets. We need to redo
our blighted strip malls. So we have strip malls all
up and down Colonial obt Arange you Avenue that are
largely abanding. But at the same time we're saying we
(06:33):
need more housing. Well, we have a perfect place to
put more housing, but also to put experience, retail and commercial,
and that's in our blighted strip malls. And this is
something we've already talked to develop developers and builders and
they're really excited about the potential to do that, and
the county plays a super important role in facilitating this.
The County's not going to own the Strip malls, not
(06:54):
going to build, but going to bring the parties together
and provide the incentives to make it happen. And number
three is we have to work work with the City
of Orlando and local business owners to revitalize our downtown.
We do not have a safe downtown. It's we have
some great sports venues and but the surrounding areas are
kind of run down, and there are a lot of
(07:14):
people who are very interested in seeing that be revitalized.
We can have a great Orlando without a great downtown,
and we can have a great downtown without a great
downtown street. And to me, that's Church Street. We have
to revitalize the Church Street corridor. And so those are
my major focuses. You've got a plan, Yeah, we do,
and it's very specific. It's not just we're going to
(07:34):
do more government better even though we've been in government,
which is kind of what we're facing. You know, My
vision is not more government, spending more government, and you know,
erosion of individual liberties. Mine is let's use the free
market and human creativity to unleash the power of the individual.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
What would you like voters to know that distinguishes you
from the other candidates in this race?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Literally everything I just talk about. One, I have a one,
we have ideas, and we have very specific plans. Two.
We don't believe that we need to go grow government
to do it. We believe that we can let our
hardworking taxpayers and homeowners keep more of their keep more
in their pocket and we'll create new opportunities for everybody
(08:20):
so that they can build generational wealth. And so for us,
you know, my vision is that we'll see us safer, cleaner, healthier, wealthier,
greater Orlando. Which is which is Orange County. You can
learn more for anybody listening at Chrismassina dot com. That's
that's our website. Early voting is on now. We ask
(08:41):
for your vote. Please vote for us and election day
is August eighteenth. Welle for a change, Vote for a
new vision, not another recycled politician.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Chris, thank you for meeting with me today.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, that was a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Again Chris Messina, who was running for Orange County mayor
and this is meet the candidates.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Thank you, Thank you so much. It was a pleasure
to be here, thank you,
Highest judy copier and I am the market president in
Central Florida. And we're here today with Chris Messina, who
was running for Orange County mayor.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you, Yeah, great to be here. Yeah. So the
reason I'm running, if you want me to dive right
into that, I'll tell us. Yeah, I'm running because fundamentally,
we need a new vision here in Central Florida, not
another recycled politician in Orange County is really the beating
heart of the free state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
So what really prompted you to run?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So will? I ran once before. I was a runner
up to Jerry Demmigs four years ago. And the reason
I ran then was because I felt like there was
some constitutional overreach during the era of the mandates. And
also I felt like it was unnecessary to raise taxes
to address every problem. In that case, he wanted to
raise taxes to address issues with transportation. Thought that was destructive, regressive,
(00:48):
and unnecessary. And so now i've as I've really dug
into county politics. I became vice chair of Orange County Watch,
which is a good government watchdog here in Orange County.
I realized that we still have the same problem that
politicians want more money to address every problem and don't
(01:08):
think about it creatively. In addition, I came to learn
that we have the lowest median income of any major
metropolitan area in the country, so we were fifth, yet
we've moved up one tick according to the Bureau for
Labor Statistics, We're now in number forty nine, and that's
a terrible place to be given all of our resources.
(01:29):
That's why I ran because I have a lot of
business experience. I have an NBA from Harvard, I have
a master's in city planning. I've run founded and run
high tech businesses, trade associations and foundations that have generated
thousands of good jobs. And I thought I have some abilities,
and I've felt this call from God really to use
(01:50):
them to help the county. And you know, my ambition
is not to be a long term politician. I think
we have a great governor in my opinion, and I'm
not looking to replace him to you know, go for
his office down the road. I'm just really focused on
seeing Range County become a great place where children, families,
and businesses thrive.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So you've identified some key issues. Talenting, absolutely, what would
you do to address them? So Number one, we have to.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
We have to make things more affordable. But the way
we do that Number one to me is we reduce
the cost burden of government on our people. And so
by that I mean I am supporting the amendment, the
property tax Amendment number three. I'm the only candidate running
for Range County mayor that's supporting it. I believe we
can run really efficiently as a government. We currently Range
(02:39):
County's budget revenues are eight point three billion. They're projected
to go to nearly nine billion next year. We can
we can learn to live a little more conservatively and
let people keep more of their hard earned money on
their houses so they can pay less tax and still
protect fire, police first responders.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
All.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
We just need to run more efficiently and think about
using technology to solve some of our problems instead of
always going for more and more taxes.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So what would be your top three priorities if elected? Sure?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So Number one is to bring in a range of
really good jobs to complement what we have here, particularly
in space tech. I see a future for Orange County
as a space tech leader of the United States. We're
working really hard right now to bring We've been working
on this for about a year to bring the first
military academy in the South, the Space Force Academy right
here to Orange County. That'll spin off immediately a billion
(03:35):
dollars a year in the ancillary revenue as well as
kickstart a lot of businesses. And we have UCF her
it's seventy two thousand students. It calls itself Space U.
We're really going to leverage that so creating these great jobs.
First in space tech, number two in trades. So we
have a shortage of trade workers in Orange just in
(03:55):
Orange County, two thousand, shortage of two thousand trades workers.
To provide a partially subsidized, well fully subsidized at first,
but with a payback clause trade school education for everybody
who wants one, starting from junior in high school through
middle middle age. And what that means is that people
will have an opportunity to have a really good, satisfying
(04:19):
job working with their hands. And a third year plumber,
for instance, with their certifications, makes one hundred thousand dollars
a year on average, So there are really really good
opportunities in the trades. Mike Rowe, you know, the famous
guy who focuses on the trades, just sees that there's
going to be a boom in trades and we can't
(04:40):
have a we can't have a twenty first century economy
without people who can build things, So that crediting jobs.
Number two is that we need to What I've mentioned
before is we need to cut costs in government. We
need to run government more efficiently. We've got a forensic
accounting team that we're building, and we're going to go
in and and basically get rid of waste and bureaucracy
(05:03):
in county government so we can invest where we need
to without having to raise taxes, and indeed while accommodating
a property tax cut, which is on the ballot in November.
And I really hope and I encourage everybody listening to
this to support that amendment. It's Amendment three. Number three
is we're going to revitalize our assets, our county assets.
(05:24):
So for example, our links bus system is very inefficient.
You have problems with transportation, but what we need to
do is down right size our buses. They're too large
for the spread out metropolitan area that we have, So
keep a few of the large buses, but mostly go
to smaller technology equipped buses so that we can shift
(05:49):
from a hub and spoke model to a point to
point model, so that people like my friend who I
met and a young guy I met in Pine Hills
who was waiting two hours to get He was waiting
for his bus, so we had to wait half hour
or so, and then the bus takes two hours for
him to get to his job at the airport. Why
because we're using a very inefficient model where he goes
to Central Deepot and then has to switch to another bus.
(06:12):
So that we're going to re engineer that. It's something
I've been calling for for actually five years, and Seminole
has just started to do it with something called Scout
number two on revitalizing our assets. We need to redo
our blighted strip malls. So we have strip malls all
up and down Colonial obt Arange you Avenue that are
largely abanding. But at the same time we're saying we
(06:33):
need more housing. Well, we have a perfect place to
put more housing, but also to put experience, retail and commercial,
and that's in our blighted strip malls. And this is
something we've already talked to develop developers and builders and
they're really excited about the potential to do that, and
the county plays a super important role in facilitating this.
The County's not going to own the Strip malls, not
(06:54):
going to build, but going to bring the parties together
and provide the incentives to make it happen. And number
three is we have to work work with the City
of Orlando and local business owners to revitalize our downtown.
We do not have a safe downtown. It's we have
some great sports venues and but the surrounding areas are
kind of run down, and there are a lot of
(07:14):
people who are very interested in seeing that be revitalized.
We can have a great Orlando without a great downtown,
and we can have a great downtown without a great
downtown street. And to me, that's Church Street. We have
to revitalize the Church Street corridor. And so those are
my major focuses. You've got a plan, Yeah, we do,
and it's very specific. It's not just we're going to
(07:34):
do more government better even though we've been in government,
which is kind of what we're facing. You know, My
vision is not more government, spending more government, and you know,
erosion of individual liberties. Mine is let's use the free
market and human creativity to unleash the power of the individual.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
What would you like voters to know that distinguishes you
from the other candidates in this race?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Literally everything I just talk about. One, I have a one,
we have ideas, and we have very specific plans. Two.
We don't believe that we need to go grow government
to do it. We believe that we can let our
hardworking taxpayers and homeowners keep more of their keep more
in their pocket and we'll create new opportunities for everybody
(08:20):
so that they can build generational wealth. And so for us,
you know, my vision is that we'll see us safer, cleaner, healthier, wealthier,
greater Orlando. Which is which is Orange County. You can
learn more for anybody listening at Chrismassina dot com. That's
that's our website. Early voting is on now. We ask
(08:41):
for your vote. Please vote for us and election day
is August eighteenth. Welle for a change, Vote for a
new vision, not another recycled politician.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Chris, thank you for meeting with me today.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, that was a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Again Chris Messina, who was running for Orange County mayor
and this is meet the candidates.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Thank you, Thank you so much. It was a pleasure
to be here, thank you,
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