Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (photo, left) is going to Congress with 4 votes to spare.
She’ll represent Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which is about 18% white, and that’s roughly how any of its residents vote Republican in congressional races.
The seat was held by Rep. Alcee Hastings (bio here) until he died in April 2021. A special election was held on November 2, 2021, to fill his seat.
Cherfilus-McCormick, a lawyer by training and CEO of a health care provider, won the Democratic primary by 5 votes after two recounts in a crowded field of 11 candidates (details here), beating several elected officials. A multimillionaire, she self-funded her campaign. (See story here.)
The January 11, 2022, general election is a formality; her Republican opponent (she has one, a reformed drug addict), is what’s known colloquially in the political trade as a “human sacrifice” (see illustration at right).