Articles

Winners of key U.S. Congress seats across Florida

Sun Sentinel / Jim Saunders and Kathy Laskowski / Aug. 18, 2020

Republican and Democratic voters on Tuesday will take major steps toward deciding the makeup of Florida's congressional delegation for the next two years.

Here are the results of some of the U.S. House primaries in South Florida.

DISTRICT 20: On the Democratic side, incumbent Rep. Alcee Hastings easily defended his seat for the second time against challenger Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. In the Republican race, Vic DeGrammont and Greg Musselwhite remained in a neck-and-neck heat as the results poured in, although the seat in November is likely to go to the winner of the Democratic primary; the district spans the eastern portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties and is heavily Democrat.

U.S. House District 20 Democratic candidates Alcee Hastings and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

DISTRICT 21: Incumbent Rep. Lois Frankel won easily over her opponent Guido Weiss. In November, she will be facing a Republican with high social-media name recognition: Laura Loomer, a political activist and conspiracy theorist who was banned from Twitter for criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and her Muslim faith. Loomer won the primary in the six-candidate race.

DISTRICT 22: James "Jim" Pruden, a lawyer, won over three candidates to become the Republican who will challenge six-term incumbent Rep. Ted Deutch on Nov. 3.

DISTRICT 23: Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an eight-term incumbent, held off a a challenge from progressive candidate Jennifer Perelman in this race. Perelman practiced corporate law before becoming a full-time mother. In the Republican primary are Michael Kroske, who works for Nations Rent in corporate procurement, and Carla Spalding, a registered nurse and military veteran making her third attempt for Congress. The race was too close to call late into the night.

DISTRICT 24: Five-term Democratic incumbent Frederica Wilson crushed challenges by newcomer Sakinha Lehtola, and Ricardo De La Fuente. De La Fuente lives in California and entered congressional races in three states: Florida, California where he lost, and Texas where he won the Democratic primary. He ran against Wilson in 2018, and also lost decisively then.

And in districts elsewhere in Florida, there are a handful of key races to watch.

DISTRICT 3: A decision by U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., to not seek another term this year led to a cast-of-thousands race in his North Florida district, which is made up of Alachua, Bradford, Clay, Putnam, Union and part of Marion counties. With the area long represented by Republicans, 10 GOP candidates qualified to run for the seat, along with three Democrats. In the crowded Republican field, Kat Cammack, who had worked for Yoho, captured the seat, and Adam Christensen won the Democratic race.

DISTRICT 15: Freshman Republican Congressman Ross Spano lost his seat to Lakeland City Commissioner Scott Franklin in a heated GOP primary in the district, which is made up of parts of Hillsborough, Polk and Lake counties. And Democrat Alan Cohn took the victory and hopes to flip the district.

DISTRICT 19: With Southwest Florida a Republican stronghold, U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney's decision to not seek another term this year led to a flood of GOP candidates in the district in Collier and Lee counties. Florida House member Byron Donalds captured the win, and will face Democrat Cindy Lyn Banyai in November.