Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris King announced on Monday the creation of a state leadership committee that “will serve as representatives for the campaign, advise the campaign on key issues, and help engage and mobilize supporters across Florida.”
The group will be chaired by Orlando entrepreneur Harold Mills who is credited with building ZeroChaos into a multi-billion dollar global company that concentrates on workforce management with operations in over 50 countries. When he sold the company, it ranked as Florida’s largest minority-owned business and one of the nation’s top three black-owned companies.
Also serving on King’s State Leadership Committee as vice-chairs are state Rep. Nick Duran, D-Miami, and former Orange County mayor Linda Chapin, who led the efforts to develop the second largest convention center in the nation.
Other members of the committee who will also serve as vice chairs are Bishop Allen T.D. Wiggins, senior pastor of The Hope Church in Orlando; Shannon Del Prado, past president of the Miami-Dade Trial Lawyers Association; Skip Pita, a trial lawyer and member of the Million Dollars Advocate Forum; Najam Usmani, a businessman who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan at the age of 19; and, Dr. Russ Prather, a medical professional. Also serving on the committee as national finance chair is Alejandro Longoria.
King, an Orlando-area businessman, has been a candidate for governor since last year but has consistently come in fourth in recent polls.
The Capitolist’s HorseRace Index, which uses a weighted formula to get an average of all the polls taken to date, shows former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine in front with 19.3 percent. He’s followed by former U.S. Rep Gwen Graham with 16.1 percent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum with 9.5 percent and King with 3.2 percent.