On November 3rd, there was a Congressional election in the 20th Congressional District in Florida to replace Representative Alcee Hastings who died on April 6, 2021, due to pancreatic cancer. Dale Holness was seen as the perfect replacement for Hastings. He was even endorsed by Hastings. The issue was this race barely got any national attention. The voter turnout was down, in 2020 for the Democratic primary in Hasting’s district there were in total 90,590 votes. In this election, there were only 49,075 votes. I think we can relate this to the fact that this race barely got any attention. There weren’t many polls and it was hard for pundits to make predictions about this race because nobody cared about it.

On Election Day, Holness had a 12 vote lead over Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. Due to the very slim lead, Holness had a recount ensued and after the recount, Cherfilus-McCormick got a 5 vote lead. Left or Right still hasn’t called this race however due to military and overseas ballots that could come in and that date is on November 12th. We will officially call the race once election certification takes place.

It’s too early to tell if Cherfilus-McCormick can hang on, but as of right now it is more than likely unless the overseas ballots change anything. Holness only needs to gain 5 votes and then the election is a virtual tie.

By: Ellis Savage