With all 93 precincts reporting in Broward County, which makes up about 30 percent of congressional District 19, Democrat Ted Deutch got 53.8 percent to 42.8 percent for Republican Ed Lynch and 3.4 percent for no-party candidate Jim McCormick.
About one-third of Palm Beach County precincts have reported and Deutch has about 65 percent of the vote there.
The Associated Press has declared Deutch the winner and Deutch just gave a victory speech to hundreds of cheering supporters in Boca Raton.
Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel, who early on the night of the Feb. 2 Democratic primary forecast “upwards of 80 percent” for Ted Deutch (he got 85.2 percent), is predicting Deutch will get more than 60 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County in today’s special general election.
“The forecast is mid-60s….63, 64 something like that,” said Siegel, who based his forecast on Democratic turnout at key precincts in Palm Beach County. He predicted a slightly lower percentage for Deutch in Broward County, which is about 30 percent of congressional District 19.
Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler never got below 65.6 percent in a general election in the district. Wexler stepped down in January to head a Middle East think tank.
Ted Deutch got 69.5 percent of the early vote in Palm Beach County to 29.6 percent for Republican Ed Lynch in the special election to replace Robert Wexler.
Absentee and precinct numbers for Palm Beach County haven’t been posted. Palm Beach County is about 70 percent of congressional District 19.
Combined with partial results from Broward County, Deutch has about 63 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Lynch and the remainder for no-party candidate Jim McCormick.
Results are starting to trickle in, so keep visiting the PostOnPolitics blog and PalmBeachPost.com
Early and absentee ballots from Broward County show Democrat Ted Deutch with 56.2 percent of the vote and Republican Ed Lynch with 40.3 percent in the special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler. No-party candidate Jim McCormick has 3.
Precinct results are not yet in from Broward County, which makes up about 30 percent of congressional District 19.
No results have been posted yet from Palm Beach County.
Voters in congressional District 19 today will choose a replacement for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, the Democrat who stepped down in January to head a Middle East think tank.
The district has more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans and voted 65 percent for Barack Obama in 2008. That makes Ted Deutch, a state Senator from Boca Raton, the heavy favorite. But Republican Ed Lynch hopes to ride voter dislike for the new Democratic health care law to an upset victory. And independent candidate Jim McCormick hopes enough voters are fed up with two-party politics to propel him into office.
The winner serves the last 8-1/2 months of Wexler’s term and will be up for reelection to a full two-year term in the fall.
For a recent summary of where the candidates stand on key issues, click here.
Republican Ed Lynch aired an ad ripping Obamacare over the final weekend before Tuesday’s special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler. Democrat Ted Deutch did his best impression of legendary Chess session man Lafayette Leake as he joined the band Riptide at Delray Affair on Saturday night and supplied keyboard accompaniment to a cover of Bo Diddley’s Before You Accuse Me.
The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, which advocates for gay rights and against discrimination based on “gender identity and gender expression,” told thousands of its members today that Tuesday’s special congressional election is for Democrats only.
The group sent out a blast e-mail endorsing Democrat Ted Deutch. The e-mail says “only registered Democrats may participate” in the special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler.
“That was a typo. We’re going to correct that,” said the group’s president, Rand Hoch.
Hoch said the Democrats-only language was left over from an endorsement e-mail the group sent out before the special Feb. 2 Democratic primary. Hoch said a corrected version of the e-mail will go out Monday and Tuesday.
The e-mail says it was paid for and approved by Deutch’s campaign. Hoch said after Deutch won the endorsement, his campaign paid the cost — which Hoch estimated at less than $100 — to send the mass e-mail.
Republican congressional hopeful Ed Lynch is facing a foreclosure lawsuit but says he’s attempting to work out a loan modification to stay in his house.
Lynch, who’s running in Tuesday’s special election to replace Robert Wexler, has missed mortgage payments since last June and owes $647,974 in principal, interest and other advances, according to a suit filed March 30.
“We’re just like anyone else. We’re not on a pedestal. We’re not holier-than-thou. We’re not different from anybody else except that we trusted the federal government,” said Lynch, who says his contracting business is owed at least $2.8 million for work on a veterans hospital in Miami.
Early and absentee voting statistics show there’s more interest in next Tuesday’s special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler than there was for the special Feb. 2 primaries in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19.
Monday’s opening of early voting drew 1,192 voters in Palm Beach County — a 136 percent increase over the first day of early voting before the Feb. 2 special primaries, when 504 people voted. A total of 2,825 people ended up casting early primary ballots in Palm Beach County between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31.
Broward County had 305 early voters Monday, compared to 650 early voters for the entire seven-day period before the primaries.
With a week to go, both counties have already received more absentee ballots than they did for the primaries.
Remember Republican congressional hopeful Ed Lynch’s claim on Fox Business Network last week that he had seen a surge in contributions immediately after the House passed the health care bill?
“We’ve got probably a thousand percent increase since the bill was passed on Sunday (March 21) and then we’ve got about another thousand percent increase when it was finally signed into law (March 23). So it’s been going pretty well…It’s just a national movement that’s gone on,” said Lynch, who’s running in next week’s special election to replace Robert Wexler.
New Federal Election Commission reports, however, tell a less dramatic story….
We initially missed this Friday appearance by Republican congressional hopeful Ed Lynch on the Fox Business Network in which he says he’s received “probably a thousand percent increase” in contributions since Democrats passed a health care overhaul bill March 21.
Lynch also tells host Stuart Varney that “poling that we’ve done” shows him ahead of heavily favored Democrat Ted Deutch. Deutch’s consultant called that claim “just plain silly.”
Lynch, Deutch and independent Jim McCormick are running in an April 13 special election in Palm Beach-Broward District 19, a Democratic bastion that elected “fire-breathing liberal” Robert Wexler seven times. Wexler stepped down in January to head a Middle East think tank.
Marijuana use is illegal under federal law, but some states allow it for medicinal purposes.
“It’s called medical marijuana. I don’t have a problem with it,” said Lynch, who said his mother died of cancer and he would have welcomed anything to relieve her pain.
“I would say if it can help eliminate the pain, why aren’t we doing it? It’s not hurting anyone. It’s medical marijuana,” said McCormick.
Said Deutch: “Medical marijuana, if it helps to reduce suffering, absolutely is something that we ought to consider.”
Legislative leaders would be allowed to raise campaign cash and give it out to candidates outside of the state political parties’ coffers under a measure on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist for signature.
The proposal would essentially renew a law barred two decades ago that permitted the House Speaker, Senate President and minority leaders in both chambers to have “leadership funds” used to dole out money to candidates.
The measure would also crack down on “electioneering communication organizations,” or ECOs, in the aftermath of a recent court decision that allow the political groups to run attack ads without revealing much of who’s behind them.
Sen. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat who is running for Congress, and other Democrats objected to that portion of the election reform (HB 1207) because they don’t want “to let people see the six figure contributions that are coming in from special interests. We should ban them.”
The bill creates “affiliated party committees,” or APCs, much like the old leadership funds lawmakers outlawed 20 years ago because they gave lobbyists too much influence in the legislature.
Republicans argued that the change would shed light on a practice that’s already taking place in the shadows.
“Money’s being raised,” said Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who is slated to take over as Senate President next year. “We want to make it so the funds aren’t in one big pool. We want to separate it out so people can be accountable…. this is sunshine. People deserve to know when they see the commercials on TV where the money came from. We are opening up the books.”
Sens. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican running for governor, and Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, were the only Republicans to vote against the measure.
Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, and Democratic Sens. Jeremy Ring of Margate and Gary Siplin of Orlando joined Republicans in the 25-11 vote.
The Senate passed a measure that would have a far-reaching impact on teachers’ salaries and job security after a heated debate by Democratic opponents and an angry defense of the bill by Republicans.
Four Republicans – Sens. Charlie Dean of Inverness, Paula Dockery of Lakeland, Dennis Jones of Seminole and Alex Villalobos of Miami – joined Democrats on the losing side of the 21-17 vote.
The Senate voted 38-2 on the bill (HB 315) this morning, with Democratic Sens. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and Frederica Wilson of Miami the only hold-outs. The House earlier unanimously passed the measure.
Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch said this morning he won’t participate in a congressional debate this afternoon with Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick because he needs to attend a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing in Tallahassee.
The three are running in an April 13 special election to replace retired U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.
WFTL 850-AM said it had lined up the three candidates for a 4 p.m. debate on The Jeff Katz Show.
But Deutch released a statement this morning saying his participation was never a sure thing because of his schedule in Tallahassee. Deutch says he hopes to schedule a debate at another date.
Lynch accused Deutch of short-changing constituents in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19.
The three candidates in the April 13 special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler are scheduled to appear together at 4 p.m. today on WFTL 850-AM for a debate.
Post On Politics will be part of the panel questioning the candidates. Submit a suggested question in the comments section below and maybe it’ll get asked. If it’s really good, Post On Politics might ask it and claim credit for thinking it up.
It isn’t just Republicans who are trying to capitalize on the tea party movement and Scott Brown’s surprise Massachusetts Senate win.
As the April 13 special election approaches to replace former Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19, Democrat Ted Deutch’s campaign has sent a mailer to voters in the heavily Democratic district warning that “Republicans & The Tea Party Want To Capture YOUR Congressional Seat!”
TALLAHASSEE — Former Democratic state Rep. Irving Slosberg of Boca Raton was at the Capitol today to promote Safe Teen Driver Week with Florida Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos.
Look for him to file Friday as a candidate for his old Palm Beach-Broward state House seat.
Slosberg, was elected to the House in 2000 as a traffic safety crusader after his 14-year-old daughter was killed in a 1996 car wreck. He championed a variety of seat belt laws and other traffic safety measures before leaving in 2006 to pursue a state Senate bid. Slosberg lost a costly and bitter Dem primary to eventual Sen. Ted Deutch, who was boosted by the support of former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.
This time around, former Wexler chief of staff and political consultant Eric Johnson is expected to help Slosberg’s bid for the District 90 House seat now held by Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton. Skidmore is leaving to run for state Senate. Educator Sheldon “Klassy” Klasfeld, a Democrat, is the only other candidate in the race.
WASHINGTON — Republican congressional hopeful Ed Lynch might not be known by most of the attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
But “fire-breathing liberal” Robert Wexler is.
So Lynch, running in an April 13 special election to replace Wexler, was warmly received by thousands of conservatives this afternoon.
“He is a candidate for the next House election that’s going to occur…It’s the seat vacated by that loudmouth Robert Wexler in Florida that you might remember from cable television,” said Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund in his introduction of Lynch.
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