Transportation, taxes and education
District 45 includes communities in southwest Orange County and part of northwestern Osceola County, from Oakland, Winter Garden and Windermere to Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista near Walt Disney World, according to WESH. In its general-election debate, the candidates addressed Amendment 3 and the homestead exemption, Tourist Development Tax spending, and possible expansion of expressways and toll roads, WESH reported.
The candidates have also put forward different proposals on costs and public services. Huntley has said she would make a gas-tax holiday her first bill, pursue property-tax relief for homestead owners, expand education-to-career options with little or no student debt, and work on transportation infrastructure. Florida Politics reported those priorities when Huntley entered the race in 2025: Florida Politics.
Spencer’s record and proposals
Spencer’s legislative record includes a 2025 bill directing a state study of automation, artificial intelligence and robotics’ effects on employment. The Legislature passed it, but Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed it, according to the Florida Senate bill record. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Spencer also sponsored legislation authorizing the Florida Department of Transportation to fund vertiport construction; it passed with bipartisan support and became law in July. Spencer has said the project could support high-wage jobs and add transportation options, and that he secured millions of dollars for district infrastructure, the Sentinel reported.
If reelected, Spencer says he intends to address rising property-insurance premiums and insurer accountability, reduce health-care costs and continue transportation improvements. Those plans, along with the candidates’ competing assessments of Spencer’s work in office, were reported from the Sentinel’s interviews; they are campaign claims rather than independently established measures of performance.
The candidates and the campaign finances
Spencer, 55, is a Gotha businessman, an Amazon senior manager and a former Disney executive. Huntley, 46, of Windermere, has held corporate leadership roles at Disney and JetBlue and became Orange County Republican Party chair in 2022, according to the Sentinel. Florida Politics has also reported that her campaign lists experience at Walt Disney Parks, JetBlue Airways and DECA Inc., and that she chairs the Republican Party of Florida’s Chairman’s Caucus, representing the state’s 67 county chairs: Florida Politics.
The Sentinel reported that Huntley had raised about $277,000 and spent roughly $80,000. Spencer had raised about $93,000, including a $17,500 personal loan, and spent about $67,000 through his campaign account; his political committee had about $72,000 cash on hand, the Sentinel reported. Separately, Florida Politics reported that Huntley had raised more than $252,000 by the end of 2025 and that Spencer had raised nearly $38,000 in hard money, including $12,290 in the fourth quarter. Florida Politics also reported that Spencer’s committee had raised more than $96,600 since it formed ahead of the 2024 election and had spent more than $64,000. These figures refer to different reporting dates and campaign accounts.
Spencer has described field outreach as important despite his campaign’s smaller reported fundraising total. He has also criticized Huntley’s record as party chair, while Huntley has argued that Spencer has not done enough for the district. Those positions and Spencer’s comments that he is not taking the contest for granted were reported by the Sentinel; Huntley has expressed confidence that voters will choose her, according to the same report.
Election context
Spencer won the seat in 2024 with about 51% of the vote, defeating Republican incumbent Carolina Amesty by just over 1,600 votes, according to Florida Politics. The outlet reported that Spencer was the only Democrat to unseat a Republican incumbent in a Florida House race that year and remains the only Democratic House member representing a district that backed Donald Trump for president. The Sentinel reported that Trump carried District 45 by less than one percentage point in 2024 and described the seat as a Republican target.
Early voting in Orange and Osceola counties begins Oct. 19, ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
