TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick won the Democratic nomination to fill a South Florida congressional seat by five votes last November. She’s hoping Tuesday’s general election won’t be nearly as close.
Cherfilus-McCormick, a health care company CEO, faces Republican Jason Mariner in the special election to fill the seat of Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died last April of pancreatic cancer. Before his death, Hastings was the longest-serving member of Florida’s congressional delegation.
Cherfilus-McCormick is now the heavy favorite to win the seat after earning less than 24% of the primary vote in an 11-candidate race. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a nearly 5-1 ratio in the district, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties. And Cherfilus-McCormick has far outraised Mariner, who also has faced questions about his record as a convicted felon, even though he has qualified legally to run.
Even if she prevails, Cherfilus-McCormick will have to compete in another primary in August if she wants a shot at a full term.
Reclaiming Hastings’ seat would increase the Democrats’ slender House majority to 222-212, leaving room for no more than four Democratic defections as Speaker Nancy Pelosi tries moving her party’s bills through the House. For much of 2021, that margin was three.
The win would make little difference, however, for the Democrats’ $2 trillion social and environment bill, now stalled in the evenly divided Senate because of objections by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The package is opposed unanimously by Republicans.
There is one other House vacancy: Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California left office last week to join a media company run by former President Donald Trump.
The runner-up to Cherfilus-McCormick in November’s primary, Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, has sued to try to overturn the election results. He also plans to compete in the August primary.
For Tuesday’s general election, House District 20′s demographics work in favor of Cherfilus-McCormick, who is the Black daughter of Haitian immigrants. About half the voters in the district are Black, compared to about 21% who are white. Mariner is white.
Cherfilus-McCormick also has a money advantage. She loaned her campaign nearly $6 million but has repaid herself $2 million. Still, by late December, she had $1.3 million in her campaign account, compared to less than $24,000 for Mariner.
Mariner is the owner of an advertising company that pays drivers to place ads on their cars. He has served two prison sentences totaling nearly two years. He was last released in 2013 after drug and theft convictions, according to the Department of Corrections.
Mariner’s campaign website said he beat drug addiction and co-founded a drug and alcohol detox facility.
While some people have questioned whether he can run for office because of the felony convictions, Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment giving felons the right to vote. The law implementing the amendment said that all court fees, fines and restitution must be paid before voting rights are restored.
When Mariner registered to vote, he checked a box that said he was previously convicted of a felony, but his voting rights had been restored, said Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Wendy Sartory Link.
“As far as we are concerned, he is a properly registered voter because we’ve not been told otherwise by anybody. As far as his ability to hold office, it’s a legal opinion. It’s not part of what we do,” she said.
Early voting indicated a light turnout, with Democrats casting nearly six times as many ballots as Republicans. Heading into the weekend, turnout was about 7%.
Associated Press writer Alan Fram in Washington contributed to this report.
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