Franzese will face Frankel in 22nd District race for Congress, after 130-vote win in recount

Katherine Kokal and Stephany Matat, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read
Dan Franzese, 2022 Republican primary candidate for the 22nd congressional race
Dan Franzese, 2022 Republican primary candidate for the 22nd congressional race
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130 votes.

That's the final margin by which Dan Franzese beat out Deborah Adeimy in the Republican primary race for the 22nd Congressional District seat, which covers a majority of southern Palm Beach County.

A machine recount of the votes began at 1 p.m. Friday and concluded just before 2 a.m. Saturday. Original vote tallies showed just 132 votes separated the candidates.

Franzese earned 11,972 votes, or 34.6% of the vote, while Adeimy won 11,842, or 34.2% of the vote.

Franzese will now take on incumbent U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, on Nov. 8 — a seat Republicans want to try to flip.

“This has been a long, hard-fought campaign," Franzese wrote in a statement sent to The Palm Beach Post. "I want to thank the people of District 22 for believing in me. I have listened to them and they have been heard at the ballot box."

Adeimy posted to her campaign Facebook page Saturday morning acknowledging the results.

"Lois Frankel is relieved she is not running against me, who would have finally ended her term," she wrote. "Happy I met more amazing people here, where my family has been for a century. I am devastated I sacrificed so much for my hometown and America."

More on the recount: House District 22 Republican primary off to a recount with 132-vote difference

More from Tuesday's elections: Florida Primary 2022: In red Florida, some of the reddest candidates went down

The Post's Endorsement: Palm Beach Post Editorial Board endorsement: Deb Adeimy for US House District 22 GOP primary

About southern Palm Beach County's Congressional seat 

District 22 starts just south of Delray Beach's Linton Boulevard and ends at Singer Island in West Palm Beach.

It leans heavily Democratic even though it includes Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club. In the 2020 election, about 58% of voters supported President Joe Biden and 40% supported Trump.

Franzese is a Palm Beach resident and a managing partner for a financial services firm. He and Adeimy, a financial adviser, were joined by three other candidates, none with formal backgrounds in political office, in seeking the voters' endorsement to challenge Frankel: Peter Arianas, Rod Dorilás and Carrie Lawlor.

Deborah Adeimy, 2022 Republican primary candidate for the 22nd congressional race
Deborah Adeimy, 2022 Republican primary candidate for the 22nd congressional race

Franzese and Arianas are both members of the Executive Committee of the Palm Beach County Republican Party and they, along with Adeimy, have attended events at Mar-a-Lago. Dorilás was active in the White House during the Trump administration.

Franzese's campaign platform is centered on stopping inflation. To do that, he says he will increase domestic energy production, end all government deficit spending, and  allow interest rates to rise to "natural levels."

"We must never again pay workers to stay at home," his website says.

His other main issues are immigration reform, enacting term limits, deregulating small businesses, protecting the Second Amendment by fighting gun control, defending Israel as an ally and maintaining an embassy in Jerusalem, lowering taxes, and restricting abortion rights.

Frankel, a former mayor of West Palm Beach, was elected to Congress in 2012. Frankel does not face a Democratic primary opponent, and she has raised about $929,000, more than any of the Republican candidates for the race.

Franzese has raised $817,000, according to the Federal Election Commission's database. 

Ballot issues affect counting, confirming signatures

The recount for District 22 was filled with questions about which ballots could be confirmed and counted.

When polls closed Tuesday, 1,300 ballots that might have altered the tally were not counted due to issues with the ballots or their signatures.

A woman drops her ballot in a supervised early voting ballot box during early voting hours at the entrance to the Palm Beach County Library System main library and administrative offices in unincorporated Palm Beach County, Fla., on August 20, 2022.
A woman drops her ballot in a supervised early voting ballot box during early voting hours at the entrance to the Palm Beach County Library System main library and administrative offices in unincorporated Palm Beach County, Fla., on August 20, 2022.

Elections officials had until 5 p.m. Thursday to contact those voters and have them verify, or "cure," their ballots through an affidavit.

Ballots that were not cured by 5 p.m. Thursday were not thrown out. The ballots will be kept for 22 months in adherence with the election office's retention process, elections officials said.

However, those votes were not part of the recount or final tally.

Katherine Kokal is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post covering education. You can contact her at kkokal@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dan Franzese wins GOP primary after recount for Palm Beach House seat