With almost all votes tallied in the contest to choose a new South Florida member of Congress, Dale Holness and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick were effectively tied in Tuesday’s primary that may not have a definitive result for another week or more.
Cherfilus-McCormick and Holness each had just under 24% of the vote shortly after 12 a.m. Wednesday.
Holness won Broward County, where most of the primary voters live, and Cherfilus-McCormick was far ahead in Palm Beach County. Mathematically, none of the other nine candidates had a path to victory.
“Prayers answered,” Cherfilus-McCormick wrote on Twitter late Tuesday. “We won tonight but it’s not final until it’s final. Keep praying.”
Early Wednesday morning Holness posted a message on Twitter to his supporters: “Keep the faith! We’ll bring this race home in due time.”
An ultra-close race could take some time to sort out. Overseas and military ballots have an extra 10 days to arrive at elections offices. Florida law provides for recounts if the races are closer than 0.5 percent. After the initial recount by machine, if there is less than 0.25 percent difference, ballots that couldn’t be accurately read by machine are counted by hand.
As of 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, Cherfilus-McCormick had 11,635 votes to Holness’ 11,644. That worked out to 23.76% to 23.74%, a difference of 0.02% — nine votes out of 49,008 ballots counted.
One thing that won’t happen is a runoff between the top vote-getters. Florida hasn’t had runoff primaries since 2000, so a candidate could win the congressional nomination by a fraction of 1% in a primary that attracted relatively few voters.
The candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination for the congressional seat held for 28 years by Alcee Hastings until his death earlier this year.
Democrats hold such an overwhelming advantage in the Broward-Palm Beach County 20th District that the Jan. 11 general election is a formality and the primary winner is the all-but-certain next member of Congress.
Cherfilus-McCormick, Holness and Barbara Sharief, who was in third place with most votes counted Tuesday night, all planned or announced their candidacies well before Hastings’ death on April 6. State Sen. Perry Thurston, of Broward, was in fourth place.
Holness has been building a political machine for years, involving himself in many political races largely behind the scenes. With the tacit approval of Hastings, he’d been positioning himself as a successor to the congressman.
Holness is currently a member of the Broward County Commission, served a one-year term as county mayor, and is a former member of the Lauderhill City Commission.
Thomas Masters, former mayor of Riviera Beach and bishop of New Macedonia Baptist Church, said he interviewed all 11 candidates and decided to support Holness.
“If you’re going to run for office, you need to be out in the community campaigning,” Masters said. “I’m not looking for a rich man, I’m not looking for a man with a PhD degree, I’m looking for a good man.”
Cherfilus-McCormick, CEO of Trinity Health Care Services, a home health care company, has never before held elected office. She challenged Hastings in the 2018 and 2020 Democratic primaries. She fueled her 2021 effort with by pumping $2.1 million of her own money into the campaign.
Claudette and Sheldon Calix, of West Palm Beach, cited Cherfilus-McCormick’s support for the idea of government payments of $1,000 a month to all adults earning less than $75,000 a year.
“I kind of like what [Cherfilus-McCormick] said, changing the system, trying to help people who really need the help,” Claudette Calix said. “That’s why I voted for her. I hope we see the change.”
Gabrielle Graves, of Riviera Beach, said she, too, voted for Cherfilus-McCormick, though she isn’t sure proposals her candidate touted will become reality. But she wanted to give her a chance. “Let’s see what she could do on a bigger platform,” Graves said.
Sharief, CEO and founder of South Florida Pediatric Homecare, is also a Broward County commissioner, has served two terms as county mayor, and is a former Miramar commissioner. Sharief spent $926,000 of her own money on the campaign. None of the other nine candidates came close to the spending by Cherfilus-McCormick and Sharief.
Two other currently elected officials — state Rep. Bobby DuBose of Broward and state Rep. Omari Hardy of Palm Beach County — were running much farther behind.
Much, much farther behind — in the low single digits — were five other candidates, including Priscilla Taylor, former state representative and former Palm Beach County commissioner.
Hastings was first elected to Congress in 1992 and at the time of his death was the longest-serving member of the Florida congressional delegation.
The district takes in most of the African American and Caribbean American communities in the two counties, and Hastings’ death caused a political upheaval.
Five elected officials had to submit irrevocable resignations from their current jobs to run for Congress, something required under the state’s resign-to-run law.
It’s possible the new member of Congress will enjoy a similarly long tenure. But Hastings was a unique figure, with a long history as a pioneering civil rights lawyer long before he was elected to Congress, and enjoyed broad support among voters.
That’s not necessarily true today. The special primary to choose Hastings’ successor was marked by exceedingly low turnout. And the ultimate Democratic primary winner will emerge without a commanding victory.
As a result, candidates who lost or people who considered running but opted against it could decide to run in the August 2022 Democratic primary for the nomination for a full term.
Jason Mariner had 57.8% of the vote in the Republican primary, defeating Greg Musselwhite, and the Associated Press declared him the winner of the nomination. Founder of an advertising business, Mariner served time in prison for drug and theft violations he said stemmed from an injury that led to an addiction to prescription drugs.
Libertarian Mike ter Maat will also appear on the January general election ballot, as will two no party affiliation/independent candidates, Jim Flynn and Leonard Serratore.
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