The Apopka City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a resolution calling for a special election to fill City Council Seat 4, from which Commissioner Nick Nesta resigned on Dec. 4 to run for mayor in the 2026 general election.  

Because Nesta did not complete his term as Seat 4 commissioner, a special election must be held within 60 days to comply with state election laws to fill the vacancy, according to the resolution. Nesta was first elected to Seat 4 in 2022 and was re-elected to the same seat in 2024.  

The special election will take place in conjunction with the March 10, 2026, municipal general election. If necessary, a runoff election will be held on April 14.  

The qualifying period for the special election is slated for noon Jan. 5 and ends at noon Jan. 7. Qualifying by petition is not an option for the special election, according to the resolution, so candidates will have to pay a fee.  

The January qualifying period is for the special election only, not for the current qualifying period for the municipal election, which began at noon on Dec. 15 and will end at noon on Dec. 19.  

“It’s not an extension of the qualifying that we have going on right now,” Susan Bone, city clerk, said at the Wednesday City Council meeting.  

Yesenia Baron, a retired law enforcement officer, is the only candidate who has filed to run for Nesta’s former seat. 

Nesta, a realtor, is running for mayor against Orange County District 2 Commissioner Christine Moore and incumbent Bryan Nelson.  

In November, Moore told the Chief she had submitted her resign-to-run paperwork. She plans to remain in her seat until April 2026, coinciding with the inauguration of Apopka’s new mayor. Following her departure, Gov. Ron DeSantis will have the authority to appoint a successor to finish the rest of her term.  

This situation mirrors the events of 2018, when then-Commissioner Bryan Nelson stepped down to run for the same mayoral office. At that time, Gov. Rick Scott appointed Rod Love to fill the vacancy until the following election, which Moore eventually won. 

Qualifying for the March general election began at noon on Monday and ends at noon on Friday, Dec. 19. Moore, Nesta and Nelson have all qualified to run, city clerk Susan Bone confirmed to the Apopka Chief on Thursday.  

In addition to the mayoral race and the pending Seat 4 special election, Seats 1 and 2 are also up for re-election. Commissioner Alexander Smith is the Seat 1 incumbent, and Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez holds Seat 2. Both incumbents’ terms will expire in 2026, and both have filed to run for re-election.  

On Dec. 3, former city commissioner Sam Ruth, who served on the council from 2014 to 2016, filed to run to challenge Smith for Seat 1. Angela Turner, an entrepreneur who most recently served as director with the state Department of Corrections, announced Wednesday on Facebook that she filed to run against Velazquez.