A brother and sister on Tuesday are taking sibling competition to a new level – specifically the local election level.
Randolph Bracy and LaVon Bracy Davis are running against each other to become the Democratic nominee for a state senate seat in Florida.
And in this sibling rivalry, their mother has taken a side: Lavon Wright Bracy is serving as her daughter’s campaign manager, according to her Instagram profile.
There are four contestants altogether in the primary in Orlando, and the victor is expected to win the general election in September. One of the Bracy family’s close friends, civil rights activist Geraldine Thompson, held the seat for two decades until she died earlier this year.
Ms Bracy, the siblings’ mother, was maid of honour in Thompson’s wedding.
The Thompson family, too, has sided with Ms Bracy Davis and endorsed her in Tuesday’s race.
On her campaign site Ms Bracy Davis casts herself as picking up Thompson’s “torch of justice, progress, and service”.
Her brother, meanwhile, on his site touts his family’s legacy of serving central Florida for more than 30 years, but he only mentions his father, not his mother.
Mr Bracy told the Orlando Sentinel it was “disappointing and hurtful” that his sister decided to enter the primary race and run against him.
Ms Bracy Davis has largely avoided discussing the subject of taking on her brother. The BBC has contacted both for comment.
History suggests there may be some complicated family dynamics at play.
When Mr Bracy ran against Thompson in a Democratic primary in 2024, Ms Bracy Davis endorsed the family friend over her brother.
Both siblings have a history of serving in the state legislature, and Mr Bracy held a different seat in the state senate until he decided to run for the US House of Representatives in 2022.
One of the more dramatic examples of siblings competing against each other in US politics goes back to 1871 and the brothers Willard, Gove and Eli Saulsbury.
When Willard realised he would lose to Gove by one or two votes, he threw his support behind Eli, a surprise late entrant to the competition for the US Senate seat for Delaware. Eli then went on to serve in Congress for 18 years.
Canada saw three pair of siblings compete in local elections in 2019, but only one set ran against each other. In that case, the mother did not disclose which one got her vote.
In addition to the Bracy siblings, there are two other contenders in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Florida – former US congressman lan Grayson and Coretta Anthony-Smith, a personal injury attorney.
The winner of Tuesday’s race is expected to succeed in the general election in September against Republican Willie Montague, as the district is a Democratic stronghold.
A Republican political operative recently sent fliers out in the Orlando area that poked fun at the sibling rivalry with a pun, the AP reported: “Bracy yourself.”
By BBC News
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