The 2022 Florida's 20th congressional district special election was a special election to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. The seat has been vacant since incumbent Democratic representative

Alcee Hastings Alcee Lamar Hastings ( ; September 5, 1936 – April 6, 2021) was an American politician and judge from the state of Florida. Hastings was nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida by President Jimmy Cart ...

died on April 6, 2021, of pancreatic cancer. The special election was scheduled by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...

to be held on January 11, 2022. The primary elections were held on November 2, 2021.

Democratic primary

Campaign

Following Hastings' death, 11 Democratic candidates made the primary ballot to replace him.

Candidates

Nominee

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (born January 25, 1979) is an American businesswoman and politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S representative for Florida's 20th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party ( ...

, healthcare executive and candidate for this district in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Eliminated in primary

* Elvin Dowling, author * Bobby DuBose, minority leader of the Florida House of Representatives *

Omari Hardy Omari J. Hardy (born November 28, 1989) is an American politician and former member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 88th district. He assumed office on November 3, 2020, and left in January 2022 following a congressional election ...

, state representative * Dale Holness,

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

commissioner and former mayor of

* Phil Jackson, retired

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

officer * Emmanuel Morel, former federal labor investigator, candidate for

Florida's 21st congressional district Florida's 21st congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Southeast Florida. It includes Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. From 2003 to 2012, the 21st district was in Miami-Dade County and included ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and candidate for this district in

Barbara Sharief Barbara Muhammad Sharief (born November 7, 1971) is an American politician and nurse. Serving as a Broward County commissioner from 2010 - 2021, she was appointed mayor from 2013 to 2014, and again from 2016 to 2017. She is the county's first Afr ...

commissioner and former mayor of Broward County * Imran Uddin Siddiqui, internist * Priscilla Taylor, former state representative and candidate for mayor of

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

in 2019 * Perry E. Thurston Jr., state senator

Disqualified

* Natalia Allen, author * Matt Boswell, businessman * Krystal Jordan, counselor * Marlon Onias, attorney * Pradel Vilme, former

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most c ...

official

Declined

* Mack Bernard,

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

Commissioner *

Shevrin Jones Shevrin D. Jones (born October 12, 1983) is an American politician from the state of Florida. He was elected to the Florida State Senate in 2020 Florida Senate election, 2020 to represent the 35th District. He previously was a Democratic Party (Un ...

, state senator * Melissa McKinlay,

Commissioner and former mayor of Palm Beach County ''(endorsed

)'' * Bobby Powell, state senator ''(endorsed DuBose)'' * Chris Smith, former state senator

Debates

Endorsements

Polling

;Graphical summary

Results

Per Florida law, because the margin separating Cherfilus-McCormick and Holness was less than 0.5%, a

recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

was held. Ballots received by November 12 from overseas were accepted. The two candidates were two votes apart as some ballots that had been cast were still in dispute. On November 12, over a week after the primary, the

canvassing board declared Cherfilus-McCormick the winner after a recount failed to change the vote totals. However, Holness did not immediately concede, pointing out that the board had rejected twelve overseas military ballots. He said he would confer with a lawyer to decide whether or not to challenge the results. The

canvassing board voted to certify the election results on the same day. State officials certified the results on November 16. Cherfilus-McCormick won in

, receiving 30% of the vote. Meanwhile, Holness won in

, where he serves as county commissioner, with 29% of the vote.

Aftermath

Holness filed a lawsuit in Broward County Circuit Court on November 29 asking it to overturn the election results, alleging Cherfilus-McCormick to be "ineligible to hold office." The lawsuit asserts that Cherfilus-McCormick did not file proper financial paperwork and that her support for a

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

of $1,000 per month amounted to bribing voters. Holness claimed that voters had asked workers at

polling place A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

s "where they collect the $1,000 from, so they expected to get $1,000." Election lawyer and former state representative

Juan-Carlos Planas Juan-Carlos "J.C." Planas (born July 17, 1970 in Miami, Florida) is a former Florida Republican politician who served as the District 115 representative in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002-2010 before having to retire due to Florid ...

described the lawsuit as a " Hail Mary pass" and doubted it would be successful. Don James, an attorney for Holness, acknowledged that the challenge likely would not be resolved in time for the election.

Mail-in ballot Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an el ...

s for the special election with Cherfilus-McCormick listed as the Democratic nominee were sent out beginning on December 3. On December 6, Cherfilus-McCormick's attorneys filed a lengthy

brief Brief, briefs, or briefing may refer to: Documents * A letter * A briefing note * Papal brief, a papal letter less formal than a bull, sealed with the pope's signet ring or stamped with the device borne on this ring * Design brief, a type of ed ...

in response to the lawsuit that disputed its claims, calling it "a desperate attempt to overturn the will of the voters." In response to the allegation of bribery, the brief points out that promising monetary benefits to voters is common, comparing Cherfilus-McCormick's support for a universal basic income to "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage," a slogan used by former president

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

in his 1928 presidential campaign. The brief also claims that Holness's complaint was filed too late and is thus invalid, and asks the judge to dismiss it and order Holness to pay Cherfilus-McCormick's legal fees. Ultimately, Holness's challenge fell flat, as no judge took up the case.

Republican primary

Campaign

Two Republicans made the primary ballot, businessman Jason Mariner and Greg Musselwhite, who had been the Republican nominee for the seat in

. The two men cut different appearances on the campaign trail, with Mariner presenting himself in a clean-cut fashion while Musselwhite campaigned in a more folksy manner. A substantial part of Mariner's campaign was based around his turning his life around after previously being imprisoned twice on various felony charges. Musselwhite attacked Mariner for his prior felony convictions, claiming in a later-deleted

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

post that voters had a choice between "the correctional officer or the inmate". Mariner ran as an "America First conservative", promoting false claims that the results of the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

were illegitimate, as well as making statements in support of the rioters at the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack and the

Confederate Flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

, which he defended as a "battle flag that was later co-opted by racist groups".

Candidates

Nominee

* Jason Mariner, businessman

Eliminated in primary

* Gregory "Greg" Musselwhite,

welding Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as bra ...

inspector and nominee for this district in

Disqualified

* Vic DeGrammont, realtor * Roland Florez * Lateresa Jones,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

* Bernard Sansaricq, former president of the Haiti Senate

Endorsements

Results

Independent and third-party candidates

Libertarian Party

Declared

* Mike ter Maat, economist and Hallandale Beach police officer

Independents

Declared

* Jim Flynn, real estate broker * Leonard Serratore,

Palm Beach International Airport Palm Beach International Airport is a public airport in Palm Beach County, Florida, located just west of the city of West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, which it serves as the primary airport for. It is also the primary airport for most o ...

official

Disqualified

* Robert Ornelas,

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Endorsements in bold were made after the primary elections.

Results

As expected by election prognosticators, Cherfilus-McCormick won the election by a landslide, winning 79% of the popular vote. In spite of this, Mariner refused to concede, threatening to file a lawsuit to dispute the results.

Notes

;Partisan clients

References

External links

;Official campaign websites
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) for Congress

Jason Mariner (R) for Congress

Mike ter Maat (L) for Congress
{{2022 United States elections Florida 2022 20 Florida 2022 20 2022 20 Special Florida 20 Special United States House of Representatives 20 Special United States House of Representatives 2022 20

Democratic primary

Campaign

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Disqualified

Declined

Debates

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Aftermath

Republican primary

Campaign

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Disqualified

Endorsements

Results

Independent and third-party candidates

Libertarian Party

Declared

Independents

Declared

Disqualified

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Results

See also

Notes

References

External links