Tonight, for the third time in 15 months, a once-solid Republican seat in the Florida House of Representatives has changed hands to the Democrats here in East Central Florida. This time it was exceptionally colorful, and quite close...
Former Representative Bob Allen was arrested for soliciting sex with a male undercover officer in a restroom at a public park. He was convicted and forced to resign. The Special Election to fill his unexpired term in Tallahassee was tonight.
Florida House District 32 covers the area of Orange County east of the city of Orlando and a bunch of northern Brevard County including the Kennedy Space Center area. As you can see by the map, a slice of relatively populated Brevard county (including Titusville, home of Darksyde) is excised from this district, leaving it one of the most overly rural districts in Central Florida. It is also plurality Republican (44%R, 35%D).
The contest was between Democrat Tony Sasso and Republican Sean Campbell. Sasso is a former 2-term Commissioner for the City of Cocoa Beach, former Naval Reserve, and an Inspector with the International Transport Worker Federation. He is also an active leader in the Boy Scouts of America.
Of the candidates, Tony is the only one with hands-on experience in government. Tony was endorsed by both the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today. The Sentinel is never known to favor Democrats, so the Editorial Board had some serious misgivings about Campbell:
But Republicans ought to think before they vote the party line. Mr. Sasso's Republican opponent, Merritt Island builder Sean Campbell, is woefully unprepared to serve in Tallahassee. The other option, independent Jerry Maynard, is not a serious candidate.
Mr. Campbell lacks even the basic knowledge of how Florida's tax structure or its school system works. Such lack of knowledge would leave little hope he could be effective.
Mr. Sasso, on the other hand, served on the Cocoa Beach City Council for six years. During that time, he's been a champion of managed growth, and he has a plan to lure high-tech industry as the shuttle program winds down.
Ouch. And on top of that, Campbell outspent Sasso by over 2 to 1, including a personal loan of $25,000 to his campaign. So, Campbell had the District registration edge, an over 2:1 money edge, and yet Tony Sasso is Florida's newest member of the State House. Woo! Tony won by 400 votes out of 22,000 cast.
Tony joins two other Central Florida Democrats who have recently won Republican seats. Scott Randolph represents District 36, and took his seat from an incumbent Republican in the 2006 election. And Darren Soto represents District 49, winning a Special Election in April of 2007.
And this from the Florida Democratic Party:
"Tony Sasso's victory proves that the quality of a candidate and the solutions that one presents are more important than money and deceptive attack politics," Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen L. Thurman said. "The voters' decision to elect Tony Sasso is another nail in the coffin of the failed policies that resulted in the Republican recession Florida faces today. The people clearly want change, and Democrats are ready to deliver a new direction for our state."
This is the ninth State House district where voters who had previously elected a Republican chose a Democrat to represent them in Tallahassee since 2006 - the biggest two-year gain in Florida Democratic Party history.