Fancy home. Luxury car. Wine label. Where does Florida pol Bracy get the money?

OCOEE — The Randolph Bracy running to take back his former seat in the Florida Senate doesn’t seem like the same person who left the legislature two years ago in a failed bid to win a seat in Congress.

The Central Florida Democrat, 47, has changed from a soft-spoken, middle class businessman to an outspoken, flashy consultant who claims to pull down more than $1 million a year in salary and this year purchased a $2.8 million lakeside compound.

He and his new wife, Kietta Mayweather Bracy, 49, display their lux lifestyle on social media sites, showcasing the home delivery of a Bentley SUV, trips on private jets, vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, and the launch of their own wine label.

The source of his sudden wealth is a mystery. He claims it comes from a consulting business whose clients and services he refuses to name publicly.

Bracy’s financial disclosure forms, required for Florida’s elected officials and candidates, provide no clues, though they document increases in income and net worth while in office.

That could be a violation of state ethics law, experts say, which would require a candidate in Bracy’s position to disclose details about his real estate holdings and sources of income. Those disclosures would help voters understand if Bracy has conflicts of interest voting on certain legislation that would benefit him or his business.

Just as troubling, others say, is his decision to challenge a fellow Democrat and longtime family friend, then criticize Sen. Geraldine Thompson as he tries to unseat her. Thompson has known Bracy since he was born.

“He is not the Randy I’ve known,” Thompson said.

Bracy’s decision to run in the Democratic primary for the district 15 seat against Thompson, a respected west Orange County lawmaker, has angered others in their party. Thompson has the backing of most other Democratic lawmakers in the county – including Bracy’s sister, Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee.

Thompson, 75, and Bracy’s mother were roommates at the University of Miami. Bracy’s mother was Thompson’s maid of honor at her wedding, and Thompson was one of Bracy’s bridesmaids. Both families are long-time pillars in Central Florida’s Black community.

Now Bracy and Thompson are both vying for a seat they each have held in the past. In fact, one or the other has represented the district – though its boundaries have shifted slightly – for the past 18 years. Thompson won it most recently in 2022, after Bracy resigned to run for Congress.

The sprawling district runs from north of Apopka south to Sand Lake Road and includes historically Black neighborhoods in Ocoee and Eatonville, as well as parts of Orlando.

Some of Bracy’s friends and colleagues wonder if losing the Congressional primary in 2022 to a younger, more progressive candidate – political activist Maxwell Frost — and the death last year of his father, the Rev. Randolph Bracy Jr., a prominent religious and civil rights leader,  prompted the changes they see today.

“I just feel he has to answer that question, what’s in his mind?” said State Sen. Victor Torres, D-Kissimmee, who served with Bracy in the Senate but supports Thompson.  “I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know what is motivating Randy to do this.”

But Bracy said he belongs back in the Senate, where he is convinced he provided better leadership than Thompson. Losing the congressional race and his father were disappointing and upsetting, he said, but they made him reevaluate his life.

“I’m a changed person,” Bracy said. “God has blessed me with the best season of my life.”

Those who criticize him are jealous. “When you start to live your best life, people can act differently toward you, unfortunately,” Bracy said.

‘Financial blessings’

Bracy was first elected to the Florida House in 2012, served two terms and then ran successfully for an open Senate seat – one Thompson vacated to make her own failed run for Congress. He was reelected in 2020 but resigned his seat midway through his second term in 2022.

When he first took office, Bracy was director of business development at the Workforce Advantage Academy charter school in Orlando, where he earned a salary of $40,000 a year. His first financial disclosure statement reported a net worth of $10,000 in 2013 and a $90,000 mortgage.

When he left the Senate, he listed a net worth of $530,000 and a home worth $1 million.

Since leaving office two years ago, Bracy’s net worth and annual income have soared. according to the financial disclosure form he filed in June along with his other qualifying documents.

On that form, Bracy lists a salary of $1.28 million last year with his Global Business Development Consulting firm and a net worth of more than $4 million.

“I’ve had time to expand my business portfolio and business contacts,” Bracy said.

But he refused to say who his clients were or how he grew his business except that he branched out into entertainment, claiming he is allowed to keep those details private.

He wouldn’t say what winery he’s invested in or where it is located, for example, though he showcased it on social media.

Likewise, he also wouldn’t itemize the $8.2 million in real estate holdings he listed as assets. A public records search conducted by Orlando Sentinel found two properties Bracy owns in Orange and Lake counties worth a total value of $3.6 million.

“I’m not going to talk about my property holdings,” Bracy said.  “I filled out the required forms.”

Bracy is wrong to not disclose his business interests and real estate holdings and failure to provide specific details is a violation of state ethics law, said Mark Herron, a Tallahassee lawyer who specializes in representing clients before the state ethics commission.

Potential penalties include fines, censure and even expulsion from office.

“The instructions require listing real estate holdings by street address, if there is one,” Herron said, with each property and its value listed separately.

The instructions also require Bracy to list all clients or customers responsible for 10% or more of the gross revenue of his consulting business, Herron said.

However, Bracy won’t face an investigation unless someone files a complaint because the ethics commission doesn’t initiate activities on its own, Herron said.

Failing to provide details on his financial disclosure forms undermines state ethics laws,  said Ben Wilcox, research director for the nonprofit government watchdog, Integrity Florida.

“The reason we require public officials to file financial disclosure forms is so the public can see if there is a conflict of interest in their official actions,” he said.

Other public records also provide no clues as to the source of Bracy’s newfound wealth or that of his wife of less than two years, a one-time local talk show host and businesswoman who owns an education tutoring company with two locations in Central Florida. He is not required to disclose financial details about his spouse on state election forms.

The financial information filed in her 2017 divorce and in her 2020 personal bankruptcy cases show expenses, including a mortgage and student loans, surpassing her six-figure income.

Bracy has a $700,000 mortgage on a home in Oakland he bought in December of 2022. In January, he and his wife purchased the waterfront home in Lake County, taking out a $2.24 million, 30-year-mortgage.

His divorce papers from 2019 show monthly expenses nearly double his income.

The couple’s social media posts document their 2023 wedding at a Bentley dealership in West Palm Beach and a lavish life, including driving to a summer home on Martha’s Vineyard, the vacation spot off the coast of Massachusetts.

In June, 2023 they announced they were part-time residents of the island. Bracy refused to confirm whether they bought property there. The Dukes County Registry of Deeds show no record of any purchases in their names.

More recently, the Bracys have been touting a feature-length film they produced and acted in called “Ponder.” Bracy said they are making a second film about the 1920 Ocoee Election Day massacre.

Feud is political, personal

Bracy’s decision this year to challenge Thompson left him with few supporters in the Legislature. His sister, whose campaign website touted her brother’s legislative service, sent out a June press release announcing that she and other Orange Democrats backed Thompson.

Bracy Davis declined to comment for this story. The siblings’ mother, LaVon Bracy, could not be reached.

“Endorsing her was kind of a no-brainer for me,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.  “Alongside my Democratic colleagues, it sends a message to the community that everybody wants Sen. Thompson to come back. There’s just no reason for her to face this primary.”

Thompson is a retired Valencia College administrator who has served in the Legislature for 16 years. She is also the founder of a small African American history museum in Orlando. Her husband is a senior judge on the Fifth District Court of Appeals.

Thompson noted that she didn’t run against Bracy when she decided to return to the Legislature in 2018. Instead, she ran against an incumbent House Republican, seeking a return to the Senate only after Bracy stepped down.

“This is not about Democrats, and where a Democrat should run,” Bracy said. “I’m running for the district that has supported me, and this is where I live. So I think the better question would be, why didn’t Geraldine run in the district that she lives in?”

Both candidates have accused the other of living outside the district. Bracy went as far as threatening to sue Thompson over it. Thompson crashed a June news conference Bracy called to announce his potential lawsuit and then took the podium to defend herself.

Bracy called Thompson an ineffective lawmaker who can’t get bills passed or money directed to her district. On social media, he complained about her “foolishness” for interrupting his press conference and attacked her for a 2016 ethics complaint dismissed by the State Commission on Ethics, which found she’d committed no violations of state law.

He also ridiculed her over legislation she introduced in 2015 and 2016 that would have required stores to provide panty liners for people trying on underwear, bathing suits and other intimate apparel.

“The way he’s insinuated and insulted me, he’s just been classless and vulgar,” Thompson said.

She’s delivered for her district, Thompson added, and stands by her record.

“I think he’s confusing being a winner and successful with what you have rather than who you are and what you do,” she added.