Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick apparent winner of Democratic primary by 5 votes
Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has apparently eked out a tiny victory in the Democratic primary to replace the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings.
Palm Beach and Broward counties completed their tabulation of overseas and military ballots in the race for Florida's District 20 congressional seat and found no additional votes for Cherfilus-McCormick or her recount challenger, Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness.
Holness had a sizable advantage in Broward, which had roughly three times as many Democrats voting in the special primary as in Palm Beach County. District 20 includes parts of both counties.
Hastings held the seat from 1993 until his death in April at 84 from pancreatic cancer.
District 20 recount: Recount underway in Broward and Palm Beach counties to determine winner in District 20 race
Florida election: Results for Palm Beach, Broward counties
State law dictated recounts in special primaries because the margin between Holness and Cherfilus-McCormick, a home health care business owner and attorney, was smaller than .5%.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who twice unsuccessfully challenged Hastings in primaries, got 3,864 votes in Palm Beach County. That figure was unchanged from the number counted for her after the county's manual recount on Nov. 5.
The 1,014 votes counted for Holness in Palm Beach County also remained the same after overseas and military ballots were included, according to figures on the Supervisor of Elections website.
In Broward County, Holness received 10,643 votes, and Cherfilus-McCormick won 7,798, according to totals reported on Broward Election Supervisor Joe Scott's website.
That left Cherfilus-McCormick with 11,662 votes and Holness 11,657, making Cherfilus-McCormick the apparent winner by just five votes.
Both counties will send their vote totals to the Florida Secretary of State's Office for certification.
After machine recounts in both states, which did not include all military and overseas ballots, Cherfilus-McCormick held the five-vote lead over Holness out of a total of 23,319 votes cast for the candidates in both counties.
Cherfilus-McCormick will take on Republican Jason Mariner in a special election Jan. 11. Mariner, a political newcomer, won the GOP primary.
District 20 is heavily Democratic, giving Cherfilus-McCormick a huge advantage.
The district was drawn in the 1990s to increase the likelihood that it would send a Black officer-seeker to Congress. Hastings, who died after a battle with prostate cancer, was never seriously challenged after winning the seat in 1992.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick leads Holness in U.S. House District 20 race
