ORLANDO, Fla. — Democrats are lining up to run against two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, hoping to capitalize on a series of high-profile controversies they think make the Trump ally vulnerable in the midterm elections.

Bale Dalton, an Orlando native and former NASA chief of staff, launched the latest bid this week. He joins Noah Widmann, a lawyer who has made an early fundraising splash, Mills’ 2024 opponent Jennifer Adams and Marialana Kinter.

The Democrats’ pitch to voters: Mills, who was recently slapped with a restraining order sought by an ex-girlfriend and faces a House ethics investigation over his business dealings, is not fit to continue in Congress.

“We’ve got a representative in Cory Mills that seems much more interested in serving himself than serving the folks of Seminole and Volusia County,” Dalton said. “He has quite a bit of baggage attached to him.”

In a video on his campaign website, Widmann flashes an image of Mills in sunglasses and asks, “Do you know this guy? They say he is the most corrupt congressman in America.”

Mills has been the subject of a barrage of eyebrow-raising headlines this year.

In October, a North Florida judge ordered Mills not to come within 500 feet of an ex-girlfriend who accused him of threatening to release explicit images of her and harm her future dating interests. That restraining order was sought by Lindsey Langston, a 26-year-old Florida state GOP committeewoman and winner of the 2024 Miss United States beauty pageant.

That ruling came after police opened a probe into since-withdrawn assault allegations involving Mills and another woman. That investigation was closed with no charges filed. His military record has also come under scrutiny, including a NOTUS report that questioned whether he was honest about his service.

The House Ethics Committee is also examining whether he benefited from federal contracts while serving in Congress.

Mills has denied wrongdoing and has dismissed accusations from political opponents on both sides of the aisle that he misrepresented his military record. His office did not respond to a request for comment from the Sentinel, but he defended his record in a statement to Politico.

“I lead the entire state of Florida in constituent services with one of [the] most constitutionally conservative and fiscally responsible voting records,” he said in a text message.

Democrats will need to overcome a district that was redrawn in 2022 to favor Republicans, lumping in GOP-friendly parts of Volusia County with Seminole County. The district is listed as a solid Republican seat by The Cook Political Report.

Mills, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, scored easy victories in the 2022 and 2024 elections. Last year, he defeated Adams, who has filed to run again but did not respond to a request for comment, by about 13 percentage points. He campaigned as a U.S. Army combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a successful businessman who founded a company selling riot-control munitions.

But Democrats are hopeful that Mills’ personal and political scandals, along with the public’s affordability concerns and Trump’s sagging approval rating, will make a difference in a midterm election that usually favors the party out of power.

Widmann, 30, a lawyer who works for AARP and lives in Casselberry, has outraised Mills for two consecutive quarters, taking in more than $450,000 to challenge the incumbent. An Ocala native, Widmann is highlighting his story of being raised by a single and disabled mother. He became a teenage father at 18, supporting his family by bagging groceries and working in fast food.

He then worked as an EMT while attending community college before transferring to Columbia University and earning a law degree from Georgetown University. He credited food stamps, Section 8 housing and other government programs with giving him the opportunity to succeed.

“I’ve been through it, and these programs helped to make sure I could do right by my family. … The American Dream is only possible if the tide is lifted for everybody,” he said.

Dalton, 45, the newest candidate in the race, served as NASA deputy chief and then chief of staff from 2021 until 2025 when the agency was led by former Florida U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Dalton served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Navy Reserve for 23 years, flying medical evacuation missions as a helicopter pilot and completing deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and the Pacific, according to his bio.

“I am just fed up with what is going on in Washington right now. … We were promised a government that would be working for us … and that’s just not happening right now,” he said.

Dalton, who lives in Sanford, is a principal at Stella Maris Strategies, a firm that advises space and aeronautic businesses and startups. His father is Skip Dalton, a federal judge. His resume also includes a stint working in Nelson’s legislative office.

Adams, 48, has served as the executive director for the group Florida Community Partnership and board director and legislative chair for the League of Women Voters of Florida.

“Being divisive and furthering chaos is not what the majority of central Floridians in this district, let alone Americans, want,” Adams said of Mills last year. “We need better representation, because we deserve better than that.”

Kinter is a 27-year-old Navy veteran who supervised nuclear reactors.

In September, Kinter was arrested during a protest calling for an end of U.S. military aid to Israel. Protesters temporarily blocked an entrance to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa to draw attention to their concerns, according to her campaign.

“I think we need to get Cory Mills out of office,” she said. “He needs to resign. The fact he is still representing us is insane.”

Mills has one GOP primary opponent so far, former Army Security Agency official Mike Johnson, no relation to the House Speaker of the same name. Johnson, who also ran against Mills in 2024, has been critical of Mills’ service record.

Both party primaries will be held on Aug. 18, 2026.

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