Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Jamaica-born Dale Holness loses bid to sit in US Congress

Published:Tuesday | November 16, 2021 | 12:09 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Dale Holness
Dale Holness

Just five votes separated the candidates in the final vote count, but it was enough to send Jamaica-born Florida politician Dale Holness to defeat.

Holness was seeking to become the first Jamaica-born to win a seat to the US House of Representatives.

Certification of the vote totals by both the Palm Beach and Broward counties election boards shows eventual winner Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick with 11,662 votes to Holness’ 11,557.

Voter turnout was extremely low with just under 16 per cent of registered voters casting ballots in the election.

Cherfilus-McCormick, a Haitian-American, will become the first person of Haitian descent to sit in the US House of Representatives and the first woman to represent Florida’s 20th Congressional District, if as expected, she defeats the Republican candidate in the January 11 special election. The 20th District is considered the second safest Democratic district in the state of Florida.

The seat was held for some 30 years by Alcee Hastings, but became vacant with his death from cancer in April. Governor Ron DeSantis held off announcing a special election to fill the seat for months but did so after a major outcry.

Cherfilus-McCormick, head of a healthcare business in Florida, is reported to have spent over US$3 million on her campaign to Holness some US$600,000.

In the Democratic Primary Election held on November 2, some 11 candidates vied for the seat. Holness carried Broward county but was defeated in Palm Beach county.

With the vote margins as close as they were, both a machine and a hand recount were done. The results were expected to be certified on Sunday but were completed and certified late Friday.

The state still has to certify the results.

This is Cherfilus-McCormick’s third attempt at winning the seat having challenged Hastings in the past.

The district is made up of several overwhelmingly black cities and neighbourhoods in Broward and Palm Beach counties as well as some nearby farming communities.

Whoever wins the January 11 special election will serve the remaining one year of the current two-year term. That person will need to win the 2022 election to win a full two-year term.