Incumbents romp in South Florida congressional races, and Moskowitz wins a seat

Incumbents from both parties succeeded in congressional races across South Florida, a region of the state that was largely unaffected by a once-in-a-decade redistricting process that left few pick-up opportunities for either party.

And in the only race for an open seat, in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, Democrat Jared Moskowitz claimed victory, making him the newest member of the Florida delegation in Washington. He is succeeding U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, who retired in September after six terms in Congress.

Moskowitz, a 41-year-old Broward County Commissioner and former director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management — appointed to both positions by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — beat opponent Republican Joe Budd. He also beat out Mark Napier and Christine Scott, two candidates with no party affiliation.

Florida’s newly drawn 23rd Congressional District — previously identified as the state’s 22nd District — had minor boundary changes through redistricting, the once-in-a-decade redrawing of legislative and congressional districts. The new district crosses county lines from Palm Beach to Broward, spanning Parkland, Coral Springs, parts of Oakland Park and coastal cities in both counties, including Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Pompano Beach.

Here are the highlights of Congressional races that garnered national attention elsewhere in Florida.

▪ U.S. House District 1: U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Republican incumbent, easily defeated Democrat Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Health Department data staffer who was fired from her job after she claimed she was being pressured to change COVID-19 cases to match Gov. Ron DeSantis’ goal of reopening the state for business and tourism.

An internal inspector general report concluded there was “insufficient evidence” to support her claims that numbers were intentionally doctored.

Gaetz, 40, is a vocal ally of former President Donald Trump who has garnered national media attention over his far-right views. He has spread false claims about the results of the 2020 elections and has said participants of the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol were members of far-left organizations.

Gaetz was safely leading Jones.

▪ U.S. House District 2: Republican Rep. Neal Dunn of Panama City defeated Democrat U.S. Rep. Al Lawson of Tallahassee in the race to represent a newly drawn North Florida congressional district, which stretches from west of Tallahassee to Jacksonville.

The battle for House District 2, a Republican-leaning seat won in 2020 by Trump, became high-profile after DeSantis reconfigured Florida’s congressional districts — and eliminated two Black districts, including the one Lawson used to represent.

DeSantis argued Lawson’s former district, which was created in 2015 by the courts by linking communities along the former plantation territories of North Florida, was “racially gerrymandered.” Lawson, a Black Democrat, criticized DeSantis for “causing a racial divide in the state” and ran against Dunn, a white Republican, in the newly drawn district.

Dunn led Lawson as of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

▪ U.S. House District 10: Maxwell Frost, a Central Florida Democrat, will be the country’s first Gen Z politician to head to Congress after defeating Republican Calvin Wimbish and two other candidates with no party affiliation, Jason Holic and Usha Jain.

Frost, a 25-year-old Afro-Cuban progressive, ran a campaign that garnered national attention and money after winning the August primary for the Orange County seat, which is currently held by U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who was making a run for Senate.

Frost was winning Tuesday night.

Here’s who else won in South Florida’s congressional races.

FL District 20: U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick will maintain her seat in Congress to serve her first full term, after defeating Republican Drew Montez-Clark, who previously ran unsuccessfully in a 2020 primary for a state House of Representatives seat.

Florida’s 20th Congressional District is a Democratic stronghold that includes a large swath of Broward County.

FL District 24: U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson comfortably defeated her Republican challenger Jesus G. Navarro.

Wilson is the incumbent in a district that has long been a majority-Black district. Since redistricting, however, Black voters are likely to be a smaller share of the electorate, in favor of more Hispanic voters.

In 2020, over 74% of voters favored Biden over Trump, according to Isbell’s analysis.

FL District 25: U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has been in Congress since 2005, fended off Republican candidate Carla Spalding.

“Thank you to all the Broward County voters who put their trust in me to keep building on the tremendous accomplishments we made in the last two years,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “It is such an honor and privilege to represent you.”

This new district is safely Democratic. According to an analysis by Matthew Isbell, a Florida election data analyst, Florida’s new Congressional District 25 voted for President Joe Biden over Trump by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2020 election. While the old district had parts of Miami-Dade County, including Surfside and Sunny Isles Beach, it is now a solidly Broward County district.

The district now includes Miramar and parts of Hollywood Boulevard that connect west to Pembroke Pines.

FL District 26: U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart defeated newcomer Christine Alexandria Olivo.

Diaz-Balart’s new district no longer runs through three different counties — it now includes only parts of Collier and Miami-Dade counties and includes growing neighborhoods in the city of Miami, including Allapattah and Wynwood. Isbell points out that the district’s Hispanic-majority designation is tilted heavily by Collier’s migrant farmworker population, but that voter data shows that registered voters tend to be mostly white.

In 2020, the district voted for Trump over Biden by more than 18 percentage points.

FL District 28: U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez

U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami-Dade mayor, won his second term in Congress against Democrat Robert Asencio, a former state representative, and write-in candidate Jeremiah Schaffer.

Florida’s Congressional District 28 is the state’s southernmost congressional seat, including all of the Florida Keys and southern Miami-Dade County.

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this story.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 9:25 PM.

Devoun Cetoute

Miami Herald

305-376-2026

Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.

Bianca Padró Ocasio

Miami Herald

305-376-2649

Bianca Padró Ocasio is a political writer for the Miami Herald. She has been a Florida journalist for four years, covering everything from crime and courts to hurricanes and politics.