Lou Minnis

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Lou Minnis

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Columbus, Ohio

Contact

Personal Facebook

Lou Minnis (Republican Party) ran for election to the Florida State Senate to represent District 15. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Minnis also ran for election for Orange County Sheriff in Florida. He did not appear on the ballot for the Republican primary on August 18, 2020.

Minnis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Lou Minnis was born in Columbus, Ohio.

Elections

2020

Florida State Senate

See also: Florida State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Florida State Senate District 15

Incumbent Victor Torres defeated Lou Minnis and Mike James in the general election for Florida State Senate District 15 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Victor Torres (D)	57.1	180,185
		Lou Minnis (R)	39.0	123,153
		Mike James (No Party Affiliation)	3.9	12,207

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 315,545
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Victor Torres advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida State Senate District 15.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Lou Minnis advanced from the Republican primary for Florida State Senate District 15.

Orange County Sheriff

See also: Municipal elections in Orange County, Florida (2020)

General election

General election for Orange County Sheriff

Incumbent John Mina defeated Winston Johnson and Tim Lucas Adams in the general election for Orange County Sheriff on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	John Mina (D)	95.3	528,013
	Submit photo	Winston Johnson (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0
	Submit photo	Tim Lucas Adams (D) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	4.7	26,053

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 554,066
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Orange County Sheriff

Incumbent John Mina defeated Andrew Darling, Jose Lopez, Darryl Sheppard, and Eric McIntyre in the Democratic primary for Orange County Sheriff on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	John Mina	54.4	64,294
	Submit photo	Andrew Darling	15.1	17,824
	Submit photo	Jose Lopez	13.9	16,405
	Submit photo	Darryl Sheppard	8.8	10,399
	Submit photo	Eric McIntyre	7.9	9,368

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 118,290
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Lou Minnis (R)

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Lou Minnis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Minnis' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Louis "Lou" Minnis is from Columbus, Ohio but moved to Orlando, Florida in 1987. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in religion from Luther Rice College & Seminary. Minnis attended J.C. Stone Memorial Police Academy in 1988 following his immediate hire with the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando, Florida where he served as a Deputy for 21 years before retiring in 2017. In addition, his professional experience includes working as a entrepreneur, management in the hospitality industry and managing a remediation business. Finally, if elected, he would be the first African-American, Republican, male, State of Florida, Senator.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am a progressive with the experience and passion to represent the people of my district.
• I am willing to work with other legislatures to push good policy through the Senate and am ready to provide the representation that my district deserves.
• I am running to bring a fresh voice to the Senate and represent the needs of our community, while bringing a background of understanding and interacting within our community.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Criminal justice: Wealth shouldn't shape the outcome of our criminal justice system. Many accused and charged of a crime lacked resources to effective representation leading into wrongful convictions and racial disparities occur leading into some blacks inherently guilty and unreasonably sentenced. As a black man and serving in law enforcement, Minnis would pursue the court system to work together towards equal justice under the law. Police Reform: Including, changes to restore our communities trust while ensuring public policy, calling for more transparency and data collection to placing an emphasis on community-based solutions without forcing our law enforcement to seek another profession, etc., because they are too scared to perform their job from the fear of losing their job. Our community cannot afford a shortage of law enforcement when our community requires assistance from them that can happen at anytime.

Additionally, Lou Minnis and the communities concerns include, juvenile justice and youth development, our economy/employment, our child welfare system and family law improvements, defending and honoring our veterans, improving access to quality education, improving access to healthcare and mental health services, fair and equal treatment within our entire justice system, protecting second amendment rights and fighting against human trafficking.

Please visit (louminnisforstatesenate.com) for more information and updates!

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

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External links

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Florida State Senate

Leadership

Senate President:Ben Albritton

Majority Leader:Jim Boyd

Senators

District 1

Don Gaetz (R)

District 2

Jay Trumbull (R)

District 3

Corey Simon (R)

District 4

Clay Yarborough (R)

District 5

Tracie Davis (D)

District 6

Jennifer Bradley (R)

District 7

Tom Leek (R)

District 8

Tom Wright (R)

District 9

Stan McClain (R)

District 10

Jason Brodeur (R)

District 11

Vacant

District 12

Colleen Burton (R)

District 13

Keith Truenow (R)

District 14

Vacant

District 15

LaVon Bracy Davis (D)

District 16

Darryl Rouson (D)

District 17

Carlos Smith (D)

District 18

Nick DiCeglie (R)

District 19

Debbie Mayfield (R)

District 20

Jim Boyd (R)

District 21

Ed Hooper (R)

District 22

Joe Gruters (R)

District 23

Daniel Burgess (R)

District 24

Mack Bernard (D)

District 25

Kristen Arrington (D)

District 26

Lori Berman (D)

District 27

Ben Albritton (R)

District 28

Kathleen Passidomo (R)

District 29

Erin Grall (R)

District 30

Tina Polsky (D)

District 31

Gayle Harrell (R)

District 32

Rosalind Osgood (D)

District 33

Jonathan Martin (R)

District 34

Shevrin Jones (D)

District 35

Barbara Sharief (D)

District 36

Ileana Garcia (R)

District 37

Jason Pizzo (N)

District 38

Alexis Calatayud (R)

District 39

Bryan Avila (R)

District 40

Ana Rodriguez (R)

Republican Party (26)

Democratic Party (11)

No Party Affiliation (1)

Vacancies (2)