Boca Raton, FL – A Democratic state senator on Tuesday handily won the first U.S. House race since Congress passed President Barack Obama’s massive health care overhaul.
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With 51% of precincts reporting, The Associated Press called the race for Democrat Ted Deutch, who had 61% of the vote compared to 36% for Republican underdog Ed Lynch. Independent candidate Jim McCormick trailed far behind with just 3%.
Deutch, an attorney, and Lynch, a contractor, both 44, were vying to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.
“I have never before felt the way that I feel at this moment,” Deutch said to cheering supporters. “This is a victory for the community and it’s a victory about issues.”
Lynch of West Palm Beach sought to make the race a referendum on the health care bill in the southern Florida district, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties. About 40% of its voters are senior citizens. But he had a tough task. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-to-1 — 234,000 to about 111,000.
Wexler, a self-proclaimed “fire-breathing liberal,” left office in January during his seventh congressional term to head a Middle East think tank. He was hugely popular in the district, which voted about 65% for Obama in 2008. Wexler, of Boca Raton, had endorsed Deutch.
Deutch will now serve the remaining eight months of Wexler’s term, then will have to run in November for his own full term.
Lynch had hoped public disdain for the health care bill and low congressional approval ratings would help him upset Deutch, widely seen as the front-runner. He sought to do what Republican Scott Brown did in Massachusetts when he won the Senate seat held for nearly a half-century by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy.
Lynch lambasted the health care overhaul as a government takeover and the gutting of Medicare, the government-run program providing health coverage to seniors, while Deutch told voters the reform would provide immediate relief.
Lynch had also slammed Obama’s stimulus bill as doing little to help the economy and called the president’s timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq “moronic.”
Deutch said he would have voted for the health care overhaul and the stimulus bill and supports Obama’s Iraq strategy.
Hatzlacha and mazel to Congregessman Deutch. This election proves that most yidden as well as most Americans are big supporters of the President’s health care plan. There will be a big surprise after next November’s election when the Republicans fail to win as many new seats as they are currently expecting.
Uh according to realclearpolitics.com’s poll of polls, only 32% of Americans support the president’s monstrous bill.
The big surprise is when the Democrats will end up going the way of the Whigs after being routed in November.
I hope you liberals jewish who still stand with this anti Israel president have your day wait til nov. You will be voted out.
You have to understand that there is no common sense in this area. In an election that most people do not come out and vote all it takes is a few old jews that are too stupid to understand anything but the fact that the democrats were good to them in 1960.
It is sad because in order to be proven right we will all suffer. We are living in very dark times.
barely 22% of eligble voters turned out for the vote and Deutsch out spent Lynch 12 to 1. And after all is said and done the AK will go for a deutsch any day before a lynch
Unfortunately most Jews have an 11th commandment: Vote Democratic. Following the commandment means they don’t have to think.
You should stop babbling nonsense.Both of kentucky’s gop senator’s voted for the act,as did all those “racist” white gop senators from idaho etc..
Obama did not campaign for him so he won
Look good and you will see this was a vote AGINST Obama.. As the Jewish vote woke up in the last two weeks and needed a candidate that will stand up to hussain Obama re his position on taking on the state of israel. The Jews in boca felt that this candidate will prevent hussian from going up against all of our traditional allies including britian Germany isreal etc
Charle Hall a.k.a Karl Marx My family were refusnicks. They grew up in the liberal utopia a.k.a communist “REGIME”. They came to the U.S.A as paupers and now live comfortable respectable lives due to the system that already works for pple that have the will to work hard and fullfill their dreams. Now with osama, im sorry obama, and jewish liberals like you we will now soon have to pick up and relocate if we want to have any freedom to grow and acheive rather than live in a country of debt and political hippocrites.! politicaly we very much disagree but how could you alighn yourself with the enemies of Israel, your pple, your home?!
I’m shocket how can there still be libaral Jews maybe one of them can explain it to me. What do you guys stand for besides tinuf and don’t tell me democrecy and equelty we are passt that and all I see is we loosing all that with you guys in charge
Another liberal , Obama -loving Jew elected. We’re the sickest ethnic group. We have no self-respect and always vote against our best interests.
Let us see what will happen between now and Nov. elections.
Am afraid that with Syria giving SCUD missiles to Hizballah and Obama trying to be friends with Syria, we may have another war. Will Obama support Israel? Unlikely. Then we will see how unsereh Yidden will vote.
I live in Boca Raton and am a Republican. If I was not on a local republican email list, I would never had been notified that there was an election yesterday. The newspapers and TV news boycotted any reference to this election. The turnout was 22%. The republican candidate only raised $87,000. The Democrat raised $1.5 Million dollars. This was a waste of time. The Jewish ex-NY condo retirees are all loyal Democrats — socialists nearly all of them. That’s the reality down here for another ten years. The paper wrote that most will be nifter in 10-15 years and then the hispanics will all move in to South Florida. Also, Muslims are building huge mosques in Boca and Broward. There may be a new Muslim community building down here, surprisingly. The days of teh Jewish Community down here is numbered.