Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick claims win in Florida District 20 primary

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick took victory with just five votes in the Democratic primary to replace the late Alcee Hastings MP, who represents South Florida’s 20th Congressional District.

The district comprises mostly black parts of the counties of Palm Beach and Broward and was drawn in the 1990s in hopes of sending a black candidate to Congress.

Both counties completed their overseas and military vote roster in the race for Florida District 20 congressional seat and found no additional votes for Cherfilus-McCormick or their recount challenger, Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness told The Palm Beach Post on Friday.

Cherfilus-McCormick announced their apparent victory late Friday.

“I would like to thank the residents of Palm Beach and Broward Counties for their hard work, support and patience during this recount. We won this together,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a campaign statement.

State law dictated a recount in the special area code as the margin between Holness and Cherfilus-McCormick, a business owner and home care attorney, was less than 0.5%.

“The electoral process is the bedrock of our democracy, and it has long been necessary to ensure the integrity of every vote in order to increase public confidence in the democratic process,” said Cherfilus-McCormick.

Count the details:Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick apparently winner of the Democratic primary with 5 votes

Early reporting:Large field of candidates to succeed Hastings in Congress

GOP:Florida GOP Dist 20 winner Jason Mariner did not follow the procedure to hold office after leaving prison

Breakdown of the votes in Broward, Palm Beach Counties

After the machine and manual recount did not result in any more votes, Cherfilus-McCormick received 3,863 votes in Palm Beach County and 7,798 in Broward County.

After legal challenges by her team against the submission of a ballot, Cherfilus-McCormick received an additional vote with a total of 11,662 votes.

Holness received 1,014 votes in Palm Beach County and 10,643 in Broward County for a total of 11,657.

That is, only five votes separated the two candidates. More than 49,000 people voted in the race in the state’s most democratic district. Holness had not commented publicly on the apparent election results until Saturday morning.

What’s next?

Cherfilus-McCormick will meet Republican Jason Mariner in a special election on January 11th. Mariner, a newcomer to politics, won the GOP primary.

District 20 is highly democratic, which gives Cherfilus-McCormick a huge advantage.

Cherfilus-McCormick would be the first Haitian-American in Congress. After the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July, she called on the US to give the island nation more support in the hope of a peaceful change of power.

“The assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse adds another layer to Haiti’s already chronic instability,” she said.

Cherfilus-McCormick, whose family members live in Haiti, said she prayed for “the Haitian people who have faced so many obstacles in their pursuit of democracy and irreversible progress.”

kkokal@pbpost.com

@katikokal

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/13/sheila-cherfilus-mccormick-claims-win-florida-congressional-primary/8604675002/