2014 Florida's 13th congressional district special election


A special election for Florida's 13th congressional district was held March 11, 2014, to elect a member of the United States House of Representatives, following the death of incumbent Republican Congressman Bill Young on October 18, 2013. Primary elections were held on January 14, 2014. Young, who had already announced that he would not be running for re-election in 2014, was re-elected in 2012 with 57 percent of the vote. With 100% of the precincts reporting, David Jolly was declared the winner of the special election.

Background

On October 9, 2013, Republican Bill Young, who had held this Tampa Bay-area district since 1971, announced that he would not run for re-election to a twenty-second term in 2014. He died 9 days later and this special election was called to fill his seat. Though Young had been re-elected by wide margins, the district in recent years had become competitive. In the four most recent presidential elections, it was won by Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000 51%-49%, by Bush with 51%-49% in 2004, by Barack Obama over John McCain 51%-47% and again carried by Obama in 2012 by a narrower 50%-49% over Mitt Romney. Given this, some political commentators and journalists viewed this election as a bellwether for the fall 2014 elections.
While discounting the idea of special elections as bellwethers, political scientists' agreed the result was a data point that public sentiment favored Republicans.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Rick
Baker		Neil
Brickfield		Larry
Crow		Frank
Hibbard		David
Jolly		Kathleen
Peters		Karen
Seel		OtherUndecided
November 18, 2013582± 4.1%————39.2%17.3%—30.9%12.6%
November 5, 2013498± 4.4%—16.8%—15%18.7%——28.7%20.8%
October 15, 2013742± 3.6%51%7%4%—2%—10%27%—

Results

Democratic nomination

Candidates

Nominee

Polling


Hypothetical polling		-------

General election

Candidates

  • David Jolly, attorney and former general counsel to Bill Young
  • Michael S. Levinson
  • Lucas Overby, commercial diver and activist
  • Alex Sink, former Chief Financial Officer of Florida and nominee for Governor of Florida in 2010
One voter was confused by a website called "sinkforcongress2014" accepting donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee to defeat Sink and other Democrats, thinking it was a pro-Sink website. His $250 donation was refunded by the NRCC.

Debates

David Jolly, Lucas Overby, and Alex Sink, the three candidates appearing on the ballot for the special election, took part in a televised debate on February 3, 2014. Held at the Seminole Campus of St. Petersburg College and co-hosted by the Tampa Bay Times and Bay News 9, the event aired live on C-SPAN 3. Al Ruechel, Adam Smith, and Amy Hollyfield served as moderators. The debate can be viewed in its entirety
A non-scientific poll conducted after the debate by Bay News 9 indicated that overall viewers felt David Jolly had won with 37% of the vote, followed by Alex Sink with 33% and Lucas Overby with 30%.

Campaign spending

During the campaign, the Center for Responsive Politics reported on February 13, 2014, that outside groups had spent $3.5 million on the election, with $2.6 million of that from groups that support Jolly. This makes it the most expensive election of the 2014 cycle so far and one of the most expensive special congressional elections in history.
The Associated Press reports that $11 million total was spent as the Democratic Party poured money into the campaign in its final weeks. In the end, Sink outspent Jolly by 3 to 1 on television ads as well as outspending him overall.

Endorsements

Polling


Hypothetical polling		------

Results

OWIKI.org. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.