Eleven Democrats qualify to replace Alcee Hastings in Congress
A large field of Democrats will vie for a few thousand votes in a special election to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings.
Eleven Democrats officially qualified to run in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which includes majority Black portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties. Candidates had until noon Tuesday to announce their intentions to run with the Florida Secretary of State’s office.
Hastings, who served in Congress since 1992, died in April from pancreatic cancer. His void left a heavily Democratic district, about two-thirds in Broward County and one-third in Palm Beach County, without representation in Washington.
The special primary election will take place on November 2. The winner of the Democratic primary is almost assured of assuming the heavily Democratic seat in Congress, though they will need to win a general election on January 11, 2022, after two Republicans, two candidates without a party affiliation, one Libertarian candidate and a write-in candidate also qualified to run.
Among the qualified Democrats are five politicians currently holding other offices: Sen. Perry Thurston, state Rep. Bobby DuBose, state Rep. Omari Hardy, Broward County Commissioner Dale V.C. Holness and Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief.
They all will resign their current seats to run for federal office, part of a statewide scramble for Democrats ahead of the 2022 election. Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced plans for special elections to fill terms for sitting politicians who run for Congress, meaning Thurston, DuBose and Hardy’s seats could go unfilled in early 2022 when the Florida Legislature reconvenes to draw district lines after the 2020 Census.
Former state representative and 2019 West Palm Beach mayoral candidate Priscilla Taylor; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a healthcare executive from Hollywood who ran against Hastings in 2020 and received 30.7% of the vote in the Democratic primary; Elvin Dowling, a public speaker and author from Broward County; Phil Jackson, a retired Navy officer from Palm Beach County; Emmanuel Morel, a former congressional candidate and retired federal labor investigator from Palm Beach County; and Dr. Imran Uddin Siddiqui, an internist from Broward County, also qualified for the Democratic primary.
Through June 30, McCormick leads the pack in fundraising after giving herself $2.2 million for her campaign. Holness and Sharief each raised around $300,000, while Hardy raised about $100,000. Fundraising and spending is likely to increase rapidly ahead of the November primary.
Jason Mariner and Greg Musselwhite qualified to run in the Republican Primary. Both are running as strong supporters of DeSantis, who is up for reelection in 2022. No-party candidates Jim Flynn and Leonard Serratore, Libertarian candidate Mike ter Matt and write-in candidate Shelley Fain also qualified for the ballot.
The 2022 timing for the special election means the district will be without representation until January, which could cause Democrats in Congress headaches as they attempt to pass a $3.5 trillion spending bill without Republican support before the end of the year. Democrats currently have an eight-seat majority in the 43-member House of Representatives, meaning they can afford only three defections to pass legislation on a party-line vote.
There are two other U.S. House vacancies in addition to Hastings’ seat, but they will be filled faster. Primaries in Ohio’s 11th and 15th Congressional Districts have already been held, with general elections scheduled for November.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Eleven Democrats qualify to replace Alcee Hastings in Congress."