Joe Budd, the Boca Raton financial planner who narrowly lost a Feb. 2 special GOP primary in congressional District 19, said Friday he’s running again for the heavily Democratic seat.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, won the seat in an April 13 special election with 62.1 percent against Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick. Lynch was the GOP nominee after edging Budd by less than 1 percent in a three-candidate primary.
Deutch
The period for congressional candidates to pay filing fees and submit necessary paperwork to qualify for the 2010 ballot is next week, from noon Monday to noon Friday.
Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2-to-1 in the district and Barack Obama got 65 percent there in 2008. Budd will argue to Democratic voters that their “loyalty to the party has been taken advantage of.”
Read Budd’s complete candidate statement after the jump…..
Republican Ed Lynch, who got 35.2 percent in Tuesday’s special congressional election after polling 27.2 percent in a 2008 congressional race, says he’ll decide in the next few days whether to make a third try this fall for the heavily Democratic District 19 seat won by Democrat Ted Deutch.
Lynch said he’s received “hundreds of e-mails” urging him to run again and “I’ll mull that over.”
He’d better mull quickly. The deadline for federal candidates to qualify for the ballot is April 30.
McCormick
No-party candidate Jim McCormick, who got 2.7 percent Tuesday, says he’s also weighing a fall run either for the congressional seat or Deutch’s old state Senate seat. If he runs, McCormick says he might go back to the GOP because “it’s clear to me that America’s just not as ready for independent candidates as it should be.”
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.
The Associated Press, after looking at partial results that show a big lead for Democrat Ted Deutch, is calling Deutch the winner of the special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler.
Perhaps more authoritatively, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson just declared Deutch “our new congressman….Let me be the first to congratulate you on a wonderful victory.”
Aaronson is at a Deutch election night party at Mizner Park.
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.
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.”
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!”
A week after losing a close GOP special primary, Joe Budd said he’s supporting Republican nominee Ed Lynch in the April 13 special congressional election to replace Democrat Robert Wexler.
During the primary, Budd and a third GOP candidate, Curt Price, criticized Lynch’s business dealings and said they wouldn’t support him if he won the primary. But Budd changed his tune at tonight’s Palm Beach County Republican Party meeting.
Budd
“If I made a mistake along the way it was probably saying I wouldn’t support Ed Lynch had he won the primary,” Budd told the GOP crowd. “Ed Lynch is the best candidate in the race. So I have to support Ed….Good luck in this race, District 19. I hope you win.”
Democrat Ted Deutch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick are also on the ballot.
For whatever it’s worth, Budd didn’t use the word “endorse” or any of its variants in his announcement. When asked afterward if his announcement constituted an endorsement, Budd said “it was announcing support…I believe he’s the best candidate standing.”
Three congressional candidates vying to replace Robert Wexler differed on terrorist trials, tax cuts and immigration reform during a debate west of Boca Raton this morning.
The West Boca Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Boca Lago Country Club was the first joint appearance by Democrat Ted Deutch, Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick. The three are running in an April 13 special election to replace Wexler, who stepped down last month to head a Middle East think tank.
Deutch said accused 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should not be tried in New York City, as originally proposed by the Obama administration. But Deutch said he supports trying some accused terrorists on American soil in American civilian courts and noted that several high profile terrorists were tried and convicted in federal court during the Bush administration.
No-party candidate Jim McCormick originally wasn’t invited to this morning’s West Boca Chamber of Commerce debate between Republican Ed Lynch and Democrat Ted Deutch.
But today McCormick has a place at the dais for the debate that’s set to begin soon. Chamber President Barry Epstein said the chamber changed its mind after McCormick sent an e-mail last night suggesting he might file a lawsuit if he wasn’t included.
McCormick, Lynch and Deutch are running in the April 13 special election for the District 19 congressional seat to replace Robert Wexler, who left office last month to head a Middle East think tank.
“We’re a chamber of inclusion, not exclusion,” said Epstein. On Monday, Epstein said McCormick wasn’t invited because he’s “not viable.”
Democrat Ted Deutch and Republican Ed Lynch, rivals in the April 13 special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler, are scheduled to debate Tuesday at a West Boca Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Boca Lago Country Club.
Deutch and Lynch won their respective primaries last week in Palm Beach-Broward District 19. Wexler left his seat last month to head a Middle East think tank.
A third candidate, Jim McCormick, is on the April 13 ballot with no party affiliation. West Boca Chamber President Barry Epstein said McCormick wasn’t invited because he is “not viable.”
The 7:30 a.m. breakfast costs $25. To make a reservation, call 561-852-0000.
Seven candidates are running to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, in an early-2010 special election. The field of candidates was set at noon today with three Republicans, two Democrats and one no-party candidate qualifying for ballot spots and frequent filer Josue Larose making a write-in bid.
Where's the money? Use The Post's interactive database of who wants and who's getting federal dollars.
Use these interactive graphics to find and contact Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast legislators.
