MIAMI — Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick defeated primary challengers Dale Holness and Anika Omphroy on Tuesday, likely paving the way for her to maintain her seat in Congress and earn her first full term after winning a special election earlier this year.
The Associated Press called the race in favor of Cherfilus-McCormick shortly after polls closed Tuesday evening.
Cherfilus-McCormick will face Republican Drew Montez-Clark, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the November general election. Montez-Clark previously ran unsuccessfully in a 2020 primary for a Florida House of Representatives seat.
Florida’s 20th Congressional District is a Democratic stronghold that includes a large swath of Broward County.
Cherfilus-McCormick won the seat in a January special election to succeed U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings after his death last April. She became the first Haitian-American to be elected to Congress from Florida and the first Haitian-American Democrat to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The race between Cherfilus-McCormick and Holness turned ugly in recent weeks. Last month, Cherfilus-McCormick sued Holness for more than $1 million, accusing his campaign of sending a defamatory text message that referred to allegations the congresswoman used taxpayer money to fund her race against Holness last year.
Financial fraud allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick surfaced after a Florida Politics column called into question the timing of more than $6 million in loans she made to her 2021 congressional campaign and over $8 million in federal funds that her healthcare company, Trinity Health Care Services, received through state contracts.
Cherfilus-McCormick has denied wrongdoing and defended her company’s efforts to help vaccinate underserved communities against COVID-19, accusing Holness of trying to “tarnish my good name that I worked so hard to achieve.”
Holness served as a Broward County commissioner for over a decade, which included a stint as the county’s mayor in 2020.
Omphroy has represented part of Broward County in the Florida House of Representatives since 2018.
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