October 5, 2017 6:06PM
G. Elliott Morris
“FL-18: On Monday, former State Department “official“ Lauren Baer announced that she’s running for this Palm Beach congressional seat. But the news today surrounds her primary opponent Pam Keith, who announced a huge endorsement by progressive veterans group VoteVets. Keith will have some name recognition in the district as she ran previously in the 2016 Democratic primary for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, currently held by Marco Rubio (R). She lost the primary race, earning just 15% of the vote to Patrick Murphy’s 59%. Although incumbent freshman Rep. Brian Mast (R) won the seat by 9 points last year and Donald Trump won it by 10, the booming cities of Port St. Lucie and Jupiter could provide a boost to Keith. Still, the reality of the district is that it is situated in a median-wealth district with, frankly, a lot of wealthy golfers in the southern tip. A Democratic win will be hard to come by in this deceptively Lean Republican district.”