Winter Park’s Chris King seeks Florida governor seat

A Winter Parker has joined the race for Florida governor. 

Winter Park businessman and Democrat Chris King announced his candidacy recently and hopes to bring a combination of liberal values and fiscal responsibility to the helm of the Sunshine State. 

“I’m running because I love Florida,” he said. “I think it’s a great state, but it’s a state with some extraordinary challenges that I don’t feel our current leadership in Tallahassee is properly addressing. I’m running to do something about those challenges.” 

King said the economy tops his agenda. 

“It’s an economy that’s leaving so many families behind, where 45% of our jobs pay $15 an hour,” King said. “It’s an economy that’s at the back of the pack nationally. Most folks don’t recognize that we’re competing with Montana and Kentucky for the 41st and 42nd spot nationally in terms of size of our economy per person. It’s hurting families all over our state.” 

King said the way to fix it is a long-term plan that supports small  businesses that create jobs. 

Affordable housing in Florida has taken a hit as well, he said, with $1.7 billion being “raided” from a trust fund that helps to build and preserve housing. King said it’s a battle he’s fighting each day at work. The president and CEO of Elevation Financial Group in Winter Park said it’s his company’s mission to revitalize housing for seniors and working families, spanning across the Southeast. 

“Our state has an affordable housing crisis,” King said. “It is becoming increasingly less affordable to live in Florida, and folks are having to leave. That’s not fair. That doesn’t create an economy that works for teachers, police or firefighters.” 

King knows Winter Park well. Born in Orange Memorial Hospital — now known as Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children— King would attend Winter Park High School. There, he played on the basketball team, served as the student body president and met his future wife, Kristen. 

Growing up in Central Florida and starting a business here has given him a unique perspective on the issues Florida faces, he said. 

“I would be the first candidate coming from this region, at the very time when this region has gotten politically much more powerful,” King said. “Being right at the center of the state, it has its pulse on all the big issues.” 

King understands he’s been labeled as the fresh face with new ideas, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“I call myself a ‘progressive entrepreneur,’” King said. “That’s something that’s sort of my style of leadership, which is the concept being someone who believes in fairness, equality and justice, but marries that to entrepreneurship and financial discipline.”