Democrat Mark Danish has beaten Republican incumbent Shawn Harrison in one of the bigger upsets of the night in the Florida Legislature in House District 63, a redrawn district that includes parts of Lutz, the USF area, Town N’ Country, Seminole Heights and Ybor City.
Out of over 60,000 votes cast, Danish won by less than 900 votes, taking the race 51-49 percent.
A former school teacher, Danish told CL's Michael Newburger that he wants to increase funding for education in Florida.
"I'm talking K through college. That keeps coming up as an issue that we want to improve, and we talk about how wonderful the education system is, and how we want to improve it...and how we want to have accountability, but no one wants to put money into doing that."
An equally tight race in Eastern Hillsborough County's HD-59 race saw Republican Ross Spano narrowly edge out Democrat Gail Gottlieb, also by a 51-49 percent margin.
