Florida House District 64 was cobbled together from parts of northeast Pinellas County and the Carrollwood and New Tampa areas of Hillsborough.
Its incumbent Republican State Representative, James Grant (one of the 'young guns' you'll hear about from time to time), probably would have sailed back into his post last November with the rest of 'em had it not been for a convoluted series of events that led to his election getting postponed for nearly six months. That race was finally decided today and, as you might have guessed, Grant sailed back into his seat.
If you live in the district and didn't even know there was a special election, don't feel bad. The election had a 6.6 percent turnout.
Grant's opponent was a write-in candidate, Daniel Matthews, who didn't raise any money leading up to today's special election. Matthews' candidacy was at the heart of the lawsuit that delayed the election, but Matthews didn't file it.
Instead it was Michael Steinberg, the husband of Miriam Steinberg, whom Grant faced in a Republican primary. Since there was no Democrat running, anyone from any party could have voted in the primary, which would have been very good for the not-as-conservative Steinberg. But with Matthews in the picture, the primary was closed. Michael Steinberg, a Tampa attorney, sued, ostensibly over Matthews' non-residency in the district.
Miriam Steinberg dropped out of the race, which left Grant and Matthews.
Grant won tonight with more than 95 percent of the vote.
Quite the squeaker, eh?
It's a good thing Grant raised $15,500 from the likes of Duke Energy ($1,000), Disney (at least $3,000 from different divisions) and a few anesthesiologist groups ($2,000) to fend off Matthews' bid.
Grant will be sworn in tomorrow in Tallahassee, where the regular legislative session has barely a week and a half left on the clock.
"We saved 70 bills to vote on tomorrow just for you!" wrote House Speaker Steve Crisafulli in a tweet.
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2015.