Florida's 13th congressional district

Florida's 13th congressional district
Florida's 13th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative		David Jolly (R–Indian Shores)
Cook PVI	R+1

Florida's 13th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress and was reassigned in 2012, effective January 2013, to Pinellas County.^[1][2] The 13th district includes an area from Dunedin to western and northern St. Petersburg.

During 2003–2012, it encompassed all of Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee counties and most of Manatee County except for a small northern coastal portion that was then located in the neighboring 11th Congressional District. It also included a small section of Charlotte County.

The district is currently represented by Republican David Jolly.

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	Electoral history
District created January 3, 1973
William Lehman	Democratic	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983	Redistricted to the 17th district
Connie Mack III	Republican	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1989	Retired to run for U.S. Senate
Porter Goss	Republican	January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1993	Redistricted to the 14th district
Dan Miller	Republican	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003	Retired
Katherine Harris	Republican	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007	Retired to run for U.S. Senate
Vern Buchanan	Republican	January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2013	Redistricted to the 16th district
Bill Young	Republican	January 3, 2013 – October 18, 2013	Redistricted from the 10th district Died
Vacant		October 18, 2013 – March 11, 2014	Florida's 13th congressional district special election, 2014
David Jolly	Republican	March 11, 2014 – January 3, 2017	Defeated for re-election
Charlie Crist	Democratic	January 3, 2017 –

Voting

Election results from presidential races
Year	Office	Results
2000	President	George W. Bush 55% - Al Gore 46%[3]
2004	President	George W. Bush 56% - John Kerry 44%[3]
2008	President	John McCain 52% - Barack Obama 47%[3]
2012	President	Barack Obama 50% - Mitt Romney 49%

Election Results

2002

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2002)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Katherine Harris	139,048	54.79
	Democratic	Jan Schneider	114,739	45.21
Total votes			253,787	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2004

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2004)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Katherine Harris*	190,477	55.30
	Democratic	Jan Schneider	153,961	44.70
Total votes			344,438	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2006

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2006)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vern Buchanan	119,309	50.08
	Democratic	Christine Jennings	118,940	49.92
Total votes			238,249	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

• Election officials certified Buchanan as the winner of the race over Jennings by 369 votes. Buchanan was declared the winner after a mandatory recount and analysis of alleged voting machine errors in the race. The primary controversy in this race was that over 18,000 ballots (or roughly one in six) cast in Sarasota County apparently did not register a vote for this race, far higher than in the two previous elections involving Jan Schneider, but lower than the undervote in 2000. Sarasota County voted for Jennings by a six-point margin. Jennings refused to concede the race and pursued administrative and legal challenges to the result, including an appeal for an investigation of the election with the House Administration Committee.^[4] Preliminary results from an investigation by Congress's Government Accountability Office concluded that there was no evidence that the voting machines caused the high undervote, but that inadequate testing made it impossible to prove their complete reliability.^[5] Sarasota County has since moved to optical scanned paper ballots as a result of a 2006 referendum vote.

According to a statistical study published in 2008,^[6] the missing votes were caused by the ballot screen layout. The authors' best estimate on what the result would have been, had this problem not occurred, gave victory to Jennings at a 99.9% confidence level, and a mean margin of victory for her of 639 votes.

2008

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2008)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vern Buchanan*	204,382	55.43
	Democratic	Christine Jennings	137,967	37.42
	Independent	Jan Schneider	20,989	5.69
	Independent	Don Baldauf	5,358	1.45
Total votes			368,696	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2010

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2010)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vern Buchanan*	183,811	68.86
	Democratic	James T. Golden	83,123	31.14
Total votes			266,934	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2012

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2012)^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	C. W. Bill Young	189,609	57.57
	Democratic	Jessica Ehrlich	139,742	42.43
Total votes			329,347	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2014 (special)

Florida's 13th Congressional District special election (2014)^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Jolly	89,095	48.52
	Democratic	Alex Sink	85,639	46.64
	Libertarian	Lucas Overby	8,893	4.84
Total votes			183,927	100
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

The district's seat was vacated following the death of Republican Bill Young.^[9] A special election was held on March 11, 2014 to replace him. The election was won by Republican David Jolly with 48.52% of the vote over the one time Gubernatorial candidate Democrat Alex Sink's 46.64% and Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby's 4.84%.

2014

Florida's 13th Congressional District election, 2014^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Jolly	168,172	75.22
	Libertarian	Lucas Overby	55,318	24.74
	Write-in	Michael Stephen Levinson	86	.04
Total votes			223,576	100.00
	Republican hold

Living former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 13th congressional district

As of May 2015, there are five former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 13th congressional district who are currently living at this time.

Representative	Term of office	Date of birth (and age)
Connie Mack III	1983–1989	October 29, 1940
Porter Goss	1989–1993	November 26, 1938
Dan Miller	1993–2003	May 30, 1942
Katherine Harris	2003–2007	April 5, 1957
Vern Buchanan	2007–2013	May 8, 1951

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013 Former 13th district covering several counties further south.

In July 2015 the Florida Supreme Court overturned the boundaries of the state's congressional districts, ruling that "the maps were the product of an unconstitutional political gerrymandering." It expressed its distrust of lawmakers and "provided detailed instructions on how to repair the flawed map in time for the 2016 election."^[11]

With the future of the boundaries of the 13th congressional district undetermined, the Republican Party may abandon it. This was where (under slightly different boundaries) William C. Cramer was elected to Congress, and he helped build the Republican Party in Florida and the South. He held office from 1954 to 1970. Republican C.W. Bill Young essentially represented the district from 1971 to his death in 2013. But demographics have continued to change, and more recently it has been a swing district. Several Democrats may be interested in running for the seat.

There is speculation that the state legislature may try to define the district as either "decidedly Democratic-leaning or overwhelmingly Democratic" if it takes in southern Pinellas County neighborhoods now represented by Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor in Florida's 14th congressional district.^[12]

References

1. See whole Florida state map for 2013, with the 13th district covering Sumter County, Hernando to Marion County: h9047_35x42L.pdf Congressional Plan: H000C9047. Chapter No. 2012-2, Laws of Florida. www.flsenate.gov. February 16, 2012.
2. See 2013 borders of 13th district in the 2013 districts map: H000C9047_map_bb.pdf, for the Big Bend region of Florida. Congressional Plan: H000C9047. Chapter No. 2012-2, Laws of Florida. www.flsenate.gov. February 2012.
3. http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/4161/
4. The CQPolitics Interview: Christine Jennings (December 6, 2006)
5. GAO Report (October 2, 2007)
6. Arlene Ash and John Lamperti (Spring 2008). "Florida 2006: Can Statistics Tell Us Who Won Congressional District-13?" (pdf). Chance. Springer. 21 (2): 18–24. doi:10.1007/s00144-008-0015-5. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
7. http://enr.votepinellas.com/FL/Pinellas/43334/112818/en/summary.html
8. http://www.politico.com/2013-election/results/house/florida/
9. Juliet Eilperin (October 18, 2013). "C. W. "Bill" Young, longest-serving Republican in the House, dies at 82". The Washington Post.
10. "November 4, 2014 General Election Official Results". Florida Department of State Division of Elections. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
11. Mary Ellen Klass, "Florida Supreme Court orders new congressional map with eight districts to be redrawn", Tampa Bay Times, 9 July 2015, 11 February 2016
12. Adam C. Smith, "Republicans may walk away from the congressional district where Florida GOP was born", Tampa Bay Times,16 July 2015, accessed 11 February 2016

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

• Voting inquiry finds reasons to dig deeper (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, August 4, 2007)
• Congressional task force to begin investigating contested Florida 13 election. (The Bradenton Herald, March 31, 2007)
• Congressional Republicans act to block Congressional Task Force slated to begin investigation into Florida 13. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, March 28, 2007)
• Memo on voting machines "misfiled" by Kathy Dent's office. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, March 17, 2007)
• People for the American Way Statement on Newly Revealed ES&S Memo on Possible Machine Malfunction. (People for the American Way, March 15, 2007)
• August 2006 Memo from Elections Systems and Software warning Florida Supervisors of Elections of a response time issue on their iVotronics touchscreen voting systems.
• Sarasota: Could a Bug Have Lost Votes? (Professor Ed Felten, February 27, 2006)
• Software Review and Security Analysis of the ES&S iVotronic 8.0.1.2 Voting Machine Firmware, Final Report. (Florida Department of State, February, 2007)
• Affidavit by Clare Ward-Jenkins, poll worker in Precinct 14, Sarasota County. Ms. Ward-Jenkins' affidavit details her encounters with a bug that repeatedly cleared votes cast for Democratic Congressional candidate, Christine Jennings., January 19, 2007)
• Analysis: Undervoted ballots heavily favored Democrats. (Orlando Sentinel, November 22, 2006)
• Buchanan declared winner; rival Jennings sues (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, November 21, 2006)
• Christine Jennings' "Complaint to Contest Election" (Filed in Florida Court, November 20, 2006)
• Sarasota County Electronic Ballot Screenshots (Posted on The BradBlog, November 20, 2006)
• Christine Jennings' web site.
• Vern Buchanan's Congressional web site.

Coordinates: 27°51′58″N 82°44′54″W / 27.86611°N 82.74833°W