Samuel Vilchez Santiago

Samuel Vilchez Santiago is the Democratic candidate for Florida House of Representatives District 43 in the November 3, 2026 general election, running against Republican Jorge Malavet in a race with no incumbent.[1] He is the chair of the Orange County Democratic Party and a senior manager at ActBlue, and he won the August 18 Democratic primary over Daisy Morales.[1][2]

Samuel Vilchez Santiago earned an associate degree from Valencia College in 2015, a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 2019 and a graduate degree from the University of Oxford in 2023.[1] In a Ballotpedia survey, his campaign described him as born in Venezuela and arriving in the United States as a political refugee at age 13, and as the valedictorian of Colonial High School and the first person in his family to attend college in the United States.[2]

Ballotpedia lists his career experience as including work as Florida campaign manager at All Voting is Local, nonprofit management, a Google fellowship, a diversity and inclusion fellowship at Hillary for America, and campaign manager for Johanna Lopez for Orange County School Board.[1] In his survey responses he said he serves as Chair of the Orange County Democratic Party and as a Senior Manager at ActBlue.[2]

His survey responses name lowering costs as his top priority, including closing Florida's Medicaid coverage gap, addressing the property insurance crisis and increasing investment in affordable housing.[2]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21. Not yet independently fact-checked.