By Mandy Miles, Jim McCarthy and Sara Matthis
The results of the Florida Keys election are not yet certified, and one race was close enough to prompt a mandatory recount, but the island chain turned red hot on Election Day.
The most surprising upset was Republican Eddie Martinez’s defeat of incumbent Democrat Heather Carruthers in the County Commission District 3 race.
Only 141 votes separated the two candidates, with Martinez receiving 50.15% and Carruthers’ getting 49.85%, according to the Supervisor of Elections office.
“The only race we’ll do a recount for is the Carruthers-Martinez race,” Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin told the Keys Weekly on Nov. 4.
The recount starts Thursday, Nov. 5, “and will take a couple days,” Griffin said. “It’s hard; I’d rather not have to do any recounts. People say it must be harder to lose by a landslide than only a few votes, but I don’t think so. When it’s so close, there’s always that hindsight and second-guessing about what someone could have done differently.”
Keys Weekly spoke with several local election watchers and political pundits, who had the following reactions to the all-Republican wins in each partisan race in the Florida Keys:
Todd German, chairman of Hometown
“What a night,” said Todd German, chairman of Hometown, which hosts several candidate forums throughout the campaign. “The Republican sweep really happened yesterday. The Republicans had 3,000 more voters than the Democrats on Election Day.
“Obviously, the Eddie Martinez upset over Heather Carruthers was the biggest surprise. Up until Election Day, based on the early voting and vote-by-mail results, Heather was handily in the lead. I don’t think anyone is more surprised than Heather and her team.
“Debbie Mucarsel Powell being defeated by Carlos Gimenez was another big surprise.”
State Sen.-elect Ana Maria Rodriguez
“It was a great night,” said State Sen.-elect Ana Maria Rodriguez, who replaces termed-out Sen. Anitere Flores, also a Republican. “Now we all have to work together for the best interest of the Keys and our community and move beyond the election. We need to bring home the resources, as well.”
Rodriguez will be working hand-in-hand with U.S. Rep.-elect Carlos Gimenez, who flipped the Democratic seat held by Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Rodriguez said she’s known the Gimenez family for decades.
“They are a decent, hard working family,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think there is a better person to represent us in Washington, D.C. than Congressman-elect Gimenez.”
She attributed the overall Republican win in Florida to the number of Latinos in the state.
“I think the vast majority of the state population, particularly Latinos who immigrated to the U.S. because they were oppressed by socialism, definitely tilted the scales,” Rodriguez said. “They don’t want the same thing to happen in this country that they saw in their homeland. So, that was a big factor. That had a big play in all of this.”
Josh Mothner, Marathon resident and occasional campaign manager
“Lots of money was spent on races big and small,” Josh Mothner said. “Our congressional district was targeted by the GOP to flip and Democrats spent money and resources on the Forster race.”
Mike Forster, a Republican, ran for and won a seat on the Monroe County Commission, but withstood a disproportionate number of attack ads in a local race.
Mothner also noted the defeat of Carruthers.
“GOP voters turn during presidential elections. Independents must have broken for GOP candidates as well. The voting patterns for this race are interesting and will undoubtedly ignite questions about at-large voting for county commission races,” he said.
Nick Mulick, chairman of the Republican Party of Monroe County
“We were confident. We had a strategy, and we knew the Democrats’ focus was on early voting and vote by mail,” said Nick Mulick, Republican Party of Monroe County chairman. “We focused on getting out the vote on Tuesday. We knew Republicans tend to vote at the polls, as well as NPAs (non-party affiliates).”
With Republicans in federal, state and county seats, Mulick said there’s a unified force.
“It’s a lot easier to go to Congress when you have a Republican representative and a county dominated by the Republican Party to ask for more funding to get more attention to issues here like water quality and reasonable development,” he said. “It’s really an amazing opportunity right now to have input we have never had before.”
