Florida's 20th Congressional District Votes in Special Election

Residents of Florida’s 20th Congressional District are voting today in a special election to fill the seat of Alcee Hastings who died in office. Democrats outnumber Republicans by 5-1 in the district and a comfortable win is predicted for the Democratic nominee Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

• The 20th District, one of the two Black majority seats in Florida, has been vacant since April 2021. Democrats have accused Republican Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) of stalling the election to block an additional Democrat vote in the narrowly divided House.
• The special election may give some insight into demographic voting trends ahead of November’s midterms. The district is 53.4% Black, 22.5% Hispanic, and 18.9% White and the willingness of the Latino community to vote Republican is a trend which has accelerated since 2016 and will be significant in the midterms.