James Martin of Hobe Sound beat Bernard Taylor of Port St. Lucie in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary for U.S. House of Representatives District 21, according to final but unofficial results.
Martin garnered 50.38% of votes to Taylor’s 49.62%.
Martin will advance to the Nov. 3 general election, when he and independent Alexander Cooke will challenge five-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fort Pierce. Mast, who was first elected in 2016, had no GOP primary challenger, and independents don’t have primaries.
Congressional terms are two years, and salaries start at $174,000 a year.
This was the first primary since Florida’s Republican-led Legislature redrew congressional maps this year to give the GOP a four-seat advantage.
District 21 remains largely the same, except for a shift in its Palm Beach County boundaries to include more undeveloped land west of Florida’s Turnpike and less of the eastern suburbs, such as Century Village and Cypress Lakes.
Martin, 33, of Hobe Sound, has extensive Coast Guard leadership and national security advisory experience.
“For the first time in more than 80 years, working hard and playing by the rules does not guarantee you will have a better life than your parents had,” he told TCPalm. “The opportunities and rights my daughters will have are not the same as the ones I had growing up.”
Anti-corruption legislation is among several campaign priorities, he said.
“People of all backgrounds across the Treasure Coast are being gripped by a cost-of-living crisis, a clean-water crisis, and families are being stripped of their healthcare,” he told TCPalm.
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: US House District 21 Democratic primary winner heads to Nov. 3 election
Reporting by Olivia Franklin, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Olivia Franklin, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
