Orlando’s city council elections are officially nonpartisan. But an ad mailed to some District 1 voters in Orlando calls on them to re-elect Jim Gray, “the last Republican standing” on the city council, claiming he’s “surrounded by liberals” and backed by a “Trump-endorsed” congressman.

Gray, who has served on the council since 2012 and is in fact its only registered Republican member, has been endorsed by Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat, and Tony Ortiz, a longtime Republican who earlier this year switched parties to the Democrats.

But the ad, listed as sent by the Republican Party of Florida and “approved by Jim Gray,” drew a rebuke from Orange County Democrats, with state Rep. Anna Eskamani and state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, both mentioned in the ad, decrying it as “homophobic.”

The

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