Pending the necessary churchwide consents, Alexander will be consecrated as Florida’s ninth bishop on Feb. 6, 2027.
The Episcopal Diocese of Florida has elected the Rev. J. Randolph Alexander Jr. as its ninth bishop after nearly three years without a permanent leader amid disputes over previous episcopal elections and concerns surrounding LGBTQ+ issues.
Alexander, rector of Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill in Alexandria, Virginia, was elected last week at a diocesan convention attended by more than 200 clergy and lay delegates at the Camp Weed & Cerveny Conference Center in Live Oak. He secured the election on the third ballot with 86 clergy votes and 78 lay votes. The other nominees were the Rev. M. Dorian Del Priore of Holy Cross Church in Simpsonville, South Carolina, and the Very Rev. Thomas Clayton Purdy of Christ Church, Frederica, on St. Simons Island, Georgia.
The election must now receive the required consent from the bishops and standing committees of The Episcopal Church. Those denominational bodies have 120 days to complete the consent process before Alexander can be installed.
In a statement released by the diocese, Alexander said he was “humbled, beyond words” by the election and asked for prayers for his wife, the Rev. Patricia Alexander, their sons, William, Peter and Andrew, and their future daughter-in-law, Bailey. He said he hoped the diocese would move forward together in service to God and the church.
The diocese’s leadership crisis began in 2022 after the Rev. Charlie Holt was initially elected to succeed retiring Bishop Samuel Howard. The Episcopal Church Court of Review later found “irregularities” in the election that created “seeds of uncertainty” about the integrity of the process. A second election was held in November 2022, and Holt again won, receiving the required votes from clergy and lay delegates.
That second election was also challenged. Twenty-nine clergy and lay delegates formally objected, arguing that the process was “fundamentally unfair” and that certain delegates had been improperly excluded. At the same time, Holt faced opposition from some members of the diocese over his views on same-sex marriage. Although he opposed gay marriage, Holt said he would allow individual parishes to determine whether to bless same-sex unions, describing the matter as one of “conscience and context.”
The Episcopal Church’s LGBTQ+ Caucus subsequently objected to Holt’s installation, arguing that his election resulted from a process that excluded LGBTQ+ voices and votes. In July 2023, the Florida Diocese Standing Committee announced that Holt had failed to obtain the necessary consent from Episcopal bishops and standing committees, preventing his installation.
Howard retired in October 2023, leaving the Standing Committee to serve as the diocese’s ecclesiastical authority while the search for a new bishop continued. Howard later faced allegations involving financial misconduct and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals, allegations he denied. In 2025, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced that an agreement had been reached to resolve the allegations without disciplinary action against Howard.
The diocese remained without a bishop through 2024, when its Standing Committee said a convention had failed to elect a new leader. Since then, diocesan officials have overseen reconciliation and healing efforts while the Standing Committee continued to govern the diocese.
In July 2026, the diocese announced three nominees for its latest episcopal election. All three candidates, including Alexander, were clergy serving outside the Diocese of Florida. Alexander’s election now marks the next step in the diocese’s effort to establish permanent leadership following years of controversy and internal division.
