David Jolly, a former lobbyist and aide to Congressman Bill Young, won the right to represent the people of Congressional District 13 tonight by narrowly defeating Democrat Alex Sink, 48.43 percent to 46.56, in a race considered to have national implications for the 2014 midterms.
Libertarian Lucas Overby finished with 4.8 percent of the total.
Speaking to his supporters a little after 8 p.m. tonight, Jolly acknowledged that his victory was hardly a mandate for his conservative stance on the issues.
"I'm grateful for the tens of thousands that supported our campaign. But I also know that tens of thousands asked to be represented by a different person and embraced a different view of government. That's okay, we are one community. I pledge to you this, while this campaign was at times partisan, your next congressman is not."
While the mood was celebratory at Jolly's party at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort on Clearwater Beach, the mood at Sink's election night party at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park was somber, with some anger emanating from the Democratic supporters.
In a somewhat surrealistic setting, reporters sat by themselves inside the ballroom where the Sink event was set to take place at 7:30 p.m. But with the polls closing at 7 p.m. and already a quarter of eligible voters having already voted early or by mail, the returns began coming in at a rapid pace.
Sink took the early lead from those initial votes. But every couple of minutes, as the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections updated its website, Jolly quickly closed in and eventually took the lead without ever relinquishing it. As reporters tweeted out those numbers, there was still nobody inside the ballroom.
Finally the doors opened at 7:30 p.m., and Democrats' excited faces turned to sorrow almost immediately when they learned what was happening. A few minutes later, it was all over.
"Obviously you’ve heard the results and they were not the results that any of us wanted," Sink told the crowd at 7:52 p.m. "We don’t know what the future holds, but I’ll continue to serve my community. Although we're disappointed," she joked, "the bars are open." Supporters chanted "November!"— which is when Jolly will come back for his re-election bid.
But will Sink want to run again? Most in the crowd who were willing to speak to CL said they hoped so.
But not everybody.
Pinellas Democratic activist Jim Jackson said, "She was never a good candidate. It was hers to lose and she did." He later said he hoped that Jessica Ehrlich, who lost to Congressman Young by a closer margin in 2012 than most Democrats had in decades, would consider a 2014 comeback. Ehrlich was intending to run again, but after Young's death last October she was big-footed by Sink, who came in and immediately destroyed Ehrlich in early polling, causing her to exit the race.
Several other Democrats in the race blamed the unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act as the culprit for Sink's demise. "That's what's driving this thing — the negativity around Obamacare," said Ed Johnson, who works for the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area.
"You never know, though," he said, smiling. "Things can change around in six, seven months from now."
That they can. Perhaps the Affordable Care Act will start trending upwards. Democrats can, if they want, console themselves that it was the ACA that cost them an election most polls showed they were going to take. But for now, CD13 is still in Republican control.