DeSantis schedules special election for Alcee Hastings’ seat in 2022

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Alex Daugherty
·3 min read
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced that the special election to replace Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died last month, will take place in January 2022.

Democrats urged DeSantis to fill the seat quickly — arguing that leaving a majority Black and heavily Democratic seat in Broward and Palm Beach counties unoccupied for months deprives thousands of Floridians of representation in Congress.

The open seat also created complications in Washington, where House Democrats can afford only two defections within their ranks to pass bills with their 218-212 majority over Republicans in the House of Representatives.

DeSantis said the general election will take place on Jan. 11, 2022, with the Democratic primary set for Nov. 2, 2021. The Democratic primary will almost certainly decide who wins the seat that Hastings occupied since 1993 as the district overwhelmingly favors Democrats.

“I know there will be a lot of folks who want to run for it so hopefully that gives them enough time to get on the ballot and do what they need to do to be competitive,” DeSantis said, adding that he decided on the timeline after speaking with Secretary of State Laurel Lee and the election supervisors of Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Candidates for Congress will officially qualify for the ballot in September. DeSantis did not address any potential openings in the Florida Legislature or Broward County Commission that will likely occur when candidates officially file for Hastings’ seat. At least five sitting politicians — one state senator, two state representatives and two county commissioners — have said they will run for the seat.

The Secretary of State’s office did not immediately respond when asked if special elections related to vacancies caused by candidates running for Hastings’ seat will occur at the same time.

State Sen. Perry Thurston, one of the five sitting politicians running for Congress, said he’s glad that DeSantis scheduled an election but that leaving the seat open for nearly 9 months isn’t the best option.

“The primary concern is the representation for the people in District 20,” Thurston said. “It doesn’t have to be pushed back to November. It further delays representation for our constituents. I’m glad that it was done but quite frankly he should have done it sooner.”

Former state Sen. Chris Smith said in an interview that he recently met with the Secretary of State’s office and they were in favor of scheduling any special elections in Broward and Palm Beach counties concurrently with the election for Hastings’ seat. All of the candidates running for Congress represent safely Democratic districts.

“One of the things they were trying to do is coordinate the timing of the races,” Smith said. “You have county commissioners, state senators and state representatives all running and trying to coordinate possibly doing these races at the same time. It takes about $3 million to run a full election in Broward County; we’re trying to figure out where we can do multiple races at once.”

Thurston, state Rep. Bobby DuBose, state Rep. Omari Hardy, Broward County Commissioner Dale V.C. Holness and Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief are the sitting politicians in the race.

The Democratic primary also includes five other candidates: former state representative and 2019 West Palm Beach mayoral candidate Priscilla Taylor; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a healthcare executive from Hollywood who ran against Hastings in 2020 and received 30.7% of the vote in the Democratic primary; Marlon Onias, a Fort Lauderdale attorney; Elvin Dowling, a public speaker and author from Broward County; and Matt Boswell, a Fort Lauderdale resident running on a left-leaning platform.

About two-thirds of the district is in Broward County and one-third is in Palm Beach County.

The Democratic primary in November will almost certainly decide who ends up filling Hastings’ seat. The primary winner will need to defeat nominal GOP opposition and will likely be sworn into office shortly after the January election.

Miami Herald reporter Colleen Wright contributed to this report.

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