By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
In Summary:
The Apopka Voice Managing Editor Reggie Connell praises the four mayoral candidates for stepping forward to lead Apopka, but expresses concern that none have articulated a meaningful long-term vision for the city. While promises to fix infrastructure, improve transparency, and manage development are expected, the piece argues that true leadership requires bold ideas about what Apopka could become in the next five, 10, or even 20 years.
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To the four candidates who want to lead this city:
Congratulations on running for office. It's not a small thing to put yourselves out there and take on a responsibility like running the second-largest city in Orange County. You have my respect and gratitude.
Even if others file to run, I firmly believe that one of you four will take the Oath of Office as Mayor of Apopka in April 2026. That being said, I also have concerns.
The role and limitations of comparison
Politics will always involve comparison. You have to draw distinctions between yourself and your opponents. It's an important element for successful outcomes. But if your campaign centers only on who you are running against, rather than the office you are running for, then you may win a race but lose the opportunity to be a leader.
A mayoral campaign should be an audition for the future—a chance to show voters who can present a clear direction for Apopka. Leadership is ultimately a promise that if entrusted with this office, you will move the city forward with purpose, integrity, and vision.
Or at least it should be.
The Final 100 days
There are fewer than 100 days left in this election, and none of you has looked to the future in any substantive way. I've reviewed your websites and found very little that relates to what Apopka might look like in four years, eight years, or even further into the future. I see no major plans beyond fixing infrastructure, controlling development, lowering utility rates, and bringing back civility and transparency to the City Council.
Yes, we expect all four of you to fix the obvious issues facing Apopka, and we expect civility and transparency from all of you as well, but who among you will talk about what Apopka could be?
What comes after a failed City Center project?
When will we see a new public safety complex?
When will Apopka rival Winter Garden as a weekend and night-out destination?
Residents are hungry for ideas. Vision is the silver bullet that will shape the next decade of Apopka—not the next headline, Facebook thread, or next news cycle.
I'm asking each of you to run a campaign worthy of this community.
For too many candidates over the years, vision and ideas have taken a back seat to attacks. I doubt Apopka voters will endure another campaign dragged down by personal attacks, accusation-driven politics, and social-media battles that do nothing to solve real problems. It's exhausting, leaves the community no better off, and almost guarantees another low voter turnout this cycle.
Campaigns built on vision, clarity, and achievable goals help voters make informed choices—campaigns built on tearing others down help no one. Leadership requires grace under pressure. It means acknowledging an opponent's differences without demonizing them. Apopka is tired of political games. Show them something different.
Apopka is still waiting to hear where any of you want to take us. You're asking to guide a community of 65,000 people through a period of dramatic growth and change. That requires more than criticism—it requires imagination. It requires the ability to look beyond the day-to-day battles of a campaign and speak to the kind of city Apopka can be in five, 10, or 20 years.
Elevate the Conversation
Residents are tired of political warfare. They want direction. They want optimism. They want someone to step forward with a blueprint for Apopka's next chapter... and the next.
All four of you have an opportunity—perhaps even an obligation—to elevate the conversation. Start now, before debates begin or negative mailers from shady PACs hit mailboxes, and commit to a campaign centered on vision.
Apopka is at a turning point. The city is changing, and those who seek to lead it must rise to meet that moment with big thinking, not small politics.
This election is your test. Show us the kind of mayor you aspire to be.
Apopka deserves a vision. And whether we get one begins with you.
In 2023, I wrote an article about Apopka's moonshot - a big-ticket item that the city and its residents could get behind and make happen. In that instance, I proposed a world-class city-owned library, similar to the one Winter Park built. That certainly doesn't have to be Apopka's moonshot, but candidates for the highest office, true leaders, should be talking about big ideas, asking residents what they would patronize and what would make them proud, and then come up with a plan to make it happen. You might have to push back from those who want to keep millage rates low, and reserves high, or from impending property tax cuts, but that's what leaders do - they make their case with respectful persuasion.
That's how great leaders operate. If you want to be the Mayor of Apopka, that's what you should strive to do.
Key Points:
- The author respects the four candidates but believes none have yet presented a clear, forward-looking plan for Apopka’s future.
- Campaigns focused solely on attacking opponents undermine leadership and fail to address the city’s long-term needs.
- Voters want vision—ideas about development, public safety facilities, community destinations, and the city’s next major “moonshot.”
- Apopka is experiencing major growth, and its next mayor must provide direction, optimism, and a blueprint for the decades ahead.
- Candidates are urged to elevate the conversation, avoid negative campaigning, and demonstrate the big-picture thinking expected of a mayor.
