BREAKING: Shoaf wins special election

Posted on June 19, 2019

Republican Jason Shoaf handily defeated Democrat Ryan Terrell in Tuesday’s special election for the Florida House District 7 seat, according to unofficial results.

Shoaf carried both Taylor County and the district by wide margins, defeating Terrell 76.79% to 23.21% in the county and 71.34% to 28.66% districtwide.

In Taylor, Shoaf garnered 1,780 votes to Terrell’s 538. The Republican also carried 13 of 14 precincts, losing only in Precinct 13.

Turnout was relatively low, with only slightly more than 18% of the county’s 12,438 registered voters casting ballots in the election. This was still enough have the second-highest turnout in the district behind Franklin County.

Locally, just 851 people voted at precinct locations on Election Day, while an additional 1,034 voted via mail-in ballots and 433 took advantage of early voting.

Elsewhere in the district, Shoaf carried all 11 counties — some are partial counties — in the district. The closest margin was in Jefferson County, where Shoaf won 985 votes to 405, while the widest margin was in Lafayette County, where Shoaf took 677 votes compared to Terrell’s 93 votes.

Shoaf defeated three other Republican challengers — Lynda Bell, Virginia Fuller and Mike Watkins — in April’s primary election, advancing to face Terrell, the lone Democrat in the race.

Shoaf will take over the House seat previously held by State Representative Halsey Beshears, who was appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in January to serve as the new secretary of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).

The unofficial results released Tuesday evening do not contain provisional ballots or 10-day overseas vote-by-mail ballots.

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