Florida Sen. Lauren Book is the Senate’s minority leader, who has represented Florida Senate District 32 since 2016, and now she’ll represent District 35, a newly drawn district.
It was a contentious race with Barbara Sharief, a former Broward commissioner and the first Black woman to serve as Broward County mayor who were embroiled in some high-profile sparring. Sharief filed a lawsuit against Book in July alleging that her opponent’s ads were defamatory and contained libelist statements.
Book has been a senator since 2016 representing District 32 but redistricting triggered a bitter stand-off with Shareif.
Book moved from her Plantation home to Davie to qualify for the seat. While the campaign turned nasty, Book said Tuesday she hopes to work with Sharief in the future.
This is the first time that Book has had an opponent on the ballot since 2016.
There is no Republican challenger so she will not have to run in the November election.
For Sharief, she came up more 12,000 votes short. Book won by 60 percent with more than 36,000 votes and Sharief at 40 percent with a little over 24,000.
“I don’t consider tonight a loss because we gave this the very best shot that we could give it. If voters do not make their voices heard then elections like this are the consequences of that,” she said.
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It was a contentious race with Barbara Sharief, a former Broward commissioner and the first Black woman to serve as Broward County mayor who were embroiled in some high-profile sparring. Sharief filed a lawsuit against Book in July alleging that her opponent’s ads were defamatory and contained libelist statements.
Book has been a senator since 2016 representing District 32 but redistricting triggered a bitter stand-off with Shareif.
Book moved from her Plantation home to Davie to qualify for the seat. While the campaign turned nasty, Book said Tuesday she hopes to work with Sharief in the future.
This is the first time that Book has had an opponent on the ballot since 2016.
There is no Republican challenger so she will not have to run in the November election.
For Sharief, she came up more 12,000 votes short. Book won by 60 percent with more than 36,000 votes and Sharief at 40 percent with a little over 24,000.
“I don’t consider tonight a loss because we gave this the very best shot that we could give it. If voters do not make their voices heard then elections like this are the consequences of that,” she said.
Continue reading...
