Cherfilus-McCormick Victorious In Florida District 20 Primary

Miami FL

15 November, 2021

7:48 AM

Description

A Miami Times Staff Report, the Miami Times Nov 13, 2021 It came down to just five votes, but Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is the declared winner of the Democratic primary to replace U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings in Congress. Her victory in Florida's 20th Congressional District was announced late Friday by Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott. The race was too close to call on Nov. 2 and after a manual recount last week, resulting in a review of 16 of overseas and military ballots that arrived ahead of Friday's afternoon deadline. The nail-biting finish ended in a final tally of 11,662 votes for Cherfilus-McCormick and 11,657 votes for Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness. Holness, who came up short, is said to be weighing his legal options. "I'm overwhelmed and it's a huge responsibility to even walk in the footsteps in the late Alcee Hastings, but I look forward with support of the community and the voters to doing the best job to bring change," said Cherfilus-McCormick to the media as she exited the canvassing board meeting in Lauderhill. As a Haitian-American, she also said, " Especially when we see what was going on in Haiti with the assassination, at the border, we can now have a voice in Congress and about policies that affect us." Cherfilus-McCormick had previously tried to unseat Hastings twice. She succeeded in this election with a razor thin margin of victory against 11 opponents that included five sitting elected officials. She has never held elected office herself. Cherfilus-McCormick's ability to pump $4 million of her own money into her campaign far exceeded her opponents' abilities to raise money. Barring a successful legal challenge from Holness, Cherfilus-McCormick is expected to easily win against a slate of minor candidates in the Jan. 11 general election, assuring her place in Congress. Cherfilus-McCormick would then likely face voters again in as little as nine months, with the 2022 Democratic primary scheduled for August. This race was only intended to fill the remaining time in Alcee Hastings' term. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.