Tonight’s House Special Election Results

In the past year there have been several resignations in the Florida Legislature, for a variety of reasons. On May 1, 2018 House District 114 and House District 39 will be receiving new representation due to special elections and prior resignations.

In November of 2017, Representative Neil Combee resigned to become the Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. The vacancy required a special election for House District 39, which consist of Polk and Osceola county. The candidates for consideration include Republican Josie Tomkow and Democrat Ricky Shirah.  Josie Tomkow defeated Ricky Shirah by a landslide.

Former State Representative Daisy Baez resigned from office due to a criminal case regarding her residency. Her resignation was based on the conditions of a plea deal which required her to resign from office and serve one year of probation. Daisy Baez represented House District 114 located in Miami-Dade. The candidates in the special election include Republican Andrew Vargas and Democrat Javier Fernandez.

Fernandez is a land-use attorney in Miami-Dade and participates in local lobbying efforts on behalf of his clients. Andrew Vargas is a partner at Trujillo Vargas, one of the leading South Florida law firms in assignment of benefit contract cases. In what is considered to be a swing seat, Javier Fernandez defeated Andrew Vargas with 84% of the precincts reporting by 51-46. The Florida Democratic Party has been calling for a blue wave in Florida, and they will certainly claim this victory as another telling sign of the so called blue wave.