Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick won the special election for the Democratic nomination in Florida’s 20th Congressional District after an earlier count left the race too close to call.
Cherfilus-McCormick, a healthcare CEO, defeated Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness by just five votes out of more than 49,000.
Broward County officials on Friday said Cherfilus-McCormick is the apparent winner of the primary.
“I am proud to be recognized tonight finally as the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 20th Congressional District following Alcee Hastings’ legacy of fighting for the rights and welfare of the common person,” Cherfilus-McCormick wrote on Twitter. “This an enormous honor to carry.”
I am proud to be recognized tonight as the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 20th Congressional District following Alcee Hastings’ legacy of fighting for the rights and welfare of the common person. This is an enormous honor to carry. Official statement to come. #FL20
— Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, JD (@Sheila4Congress) November 13, 2021
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Earlier Friday, a Broward County judge rejected a request by Cherfilus-McCormick to block three mail-in ballots after she claimed there were improprieties with verifying the voters’ signatures.
Holness, endorsed by Hastings’ family, told reporters he would meet with his attorneys to consider ways to have additional mail-in ballots counted.
“We don’t know exactly where they are. We should give our military personnel and their dependents who serve our country the benefit of the doubt rather than doubt them,” he said. “They put a request in to have a vote-by-mail ballot. There is a reason they did it.”
The district in the Ft. Lauderdale area is one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the state. Its congressional seat has been left vacant since the death of the late Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings in April after a battle with cancer. So, Cherfilus-McCormick likely has a smooth path to Congress after the Jan. 11, 2022, special election.
Cherfilus-McCormick previously and unsuccessfully challenged Hastings, but she self-funded her campaign this year, pouring nearly $4 million of her own money into the effort.
Cherfilus-McCormick will run against Jason Mariner, who won the district’s Republican nomination. Mariner’s campaign won’t just have the hurdle of a heavily Democratic district, as he faces lingering questions about his eligibility to hold office because he reportedly did not properly comply while restoring his civil rights after imprisonment.
The Palm Beach Post reported Mariner served approximately two years total in the Palm Beach County Jail in 2007 and 2012 on charges including “felony theft, burglary, cocaine possession, obstruction and violently resisting arrest.”
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Mariner was reportedly “open” with voters about his criminal background, telling them he would be tough on crime. He told the newspaper that completing the process won’t be “an issue.”
Should Cherfilus-McCormick win the January special election, she will have to seek reelection in both an August primary and a November midterm election.
