Lori Berman wins special election for state Senate seat

Lantana Democrat Lori Berman easily defeated Republican Tami Donnally in the Tuesday special election to fill the Senate District 31 seat vacated by former Sen. Jeff Clemens last fall.

With more than 27,500 ballots counted, Berman captured almost 75 percent of the vote.

Berman was immediately welcome to the Senate by President Joe Negron on Twitter and by Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson.

“I am extremely excited to have now Senator Lori Berman as a member of our caucus!” said Gibson. “Lori is a deliberative legislator and will be a tremendous asset on policy discussions and value action from such discussions.”

Florida Democratic Party chair Terrie Rizzo also celebrated the win, “Congratulations Senator-elect Berman! South Florida has a progressive champion in Lori Berman – as a Representative she pushed for commonsense gun violence prevention measures, advocated for public schools, and fought for seniors. We know she will continue to the same for Senate District 31 constituents. Let the Blue Wave in Florida continue!”

Berman’s victory has been a foregone conclusion since the early stages of the race.

Shortly after Clemens resigned over the public revelation he’d had an affair with a lobbyist, it looked like Berman would face a serious primary challenge from former Rep. Irv Slosberg.

The Boca Raton Democrat did as much to Clemens in the 2016 race, using nearly $1.9 million of his own money to bolster his insurgent campaign, though he ultimately received less than a third of the vote in in the three-way primary race.

His decision to step aside and endorse his former House colleague turned the Democratic Primary into a mere formality — Berman dominated in both fundraising and name recognition, and cleaned up with nearly 96 percent of the vote in her head-to-head against the fledgling campaign of first-time candidate Arthur Morrison.

Despite breaking the low bar set by Morrison in the primary, Donnally’s candidacy was no more of a threat to Berman’s Senate hopes.

Unlike the 2017 special election for SD 40, or the pending special in HD 114, SD 31 is a Democratic stronghold. No Republican challenged to Clemens in the 2016 race and the seat voted plus-25 for Hillary Clinton — one of her best margins among the 19 state Senate districts she carried.

Also unlike the HD 114 race, Berman’s victory serves more of a purpose than providing another data point for Democrats’ forecast of a “blue wave.”

The Lantana lawmaker will get to be just that for the 2019 and 2020 Legislative sessions before she must reenter campaign mode.

Her election makes for 14 women in the state Senate and cuts the Republican advantage in the chamber to 23-16 — the SD 16 seat resigned by Clearwater Republican Jack Latvala will remain vacant until November.