September 29, 2023
Women in politics election 2022 results
U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) won 78% of the vote and was re-elected to Congressional District 20, in the Broward-Palm Beach district.
Women in politics election 2022 results
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, (R), defeated Democratic candidate Annette Taddeo in U.S. House District 27 in Miami-Dade County.
Women in politics election 2022 results
Kiyan Michael (R) won in the Florida House District 16 in Jacksonville.
Women in politics election 2022 results
Susan Plasencia (R) unseated four-term state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith in Florida House District 37 in Central Florida.
Women in politics election 2022 results
Fentrice Driskell (D) won her third term in north Tampa's District 67.

Photo: Arielle Bader / Tampa Bay Times

Women in politics election 2022 results
Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez (R) beat opponent Karla Hernández-Mats alongside running mate Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Decision 2022: Before You Vote U.S. Senate Debate

Update: Election results show Black, Hispanic women candidates bringing new perspectives to Florida politics

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read the original story here: https://floridatrend.com/article/35113/black-and-hispanic-women-running-for-office-are-shaking-up-floridas-political-landscape 

In the November 2022 issue of FLORIDA TREND, we profiled several Black and Hispanic women candidates who are part of a trend of more women of color running for political office. The 2022 election set a new high bar for women of color in Florida politics: 49% of women candidates running for major state or federal office in Florida are women of color.

Here are the results of Tuesday’s general election:

  • Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez (R) glided to victory alongside her running mate, Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a landslide (19.4-point) victory over Charlie Christ and his running mate, Karla Hernández-Mats.
  • Incumbent Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican, defeated Democratic candidate Annette Taddeo, a former state senator, in U.S. House District 27 in Miami-Dade County, which is home to the largest population of voting-age Hispanics in the state. “This election proves what Ronald Reagan famously said, that Latinos are Republicans, they just don’t know it — until tonight, because 2022 has been the year of the Hispanic Republicans,” Salazar said in her victory speech.
  • Kiyan Michael, a Black Republican who also ran on a mantle of immigration reform, defeated two write-in candidates in her race for Florida House District 16 in the Jacksonville area.
  • Susan Plasencia, a Republican who is of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, unseated four-term state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat, in Florida House District 37 in Central Florida. Plasencia, who won with 52% of the vote to Smith's 48%, tweeted that she was “honored” to be elected and would “begin the process of #WorkingTogether as we move Florida forward!”
  • Carolina Amesty, a Venezuelan-American, won Florida House district 45, defeating Democrat Allie Braswell with 53% of the vote to Braswell’s 47%.
  • Incumbent state Rep. Fentrice Driskell, House Democratic leader and the first Black woman to be elected to that post, won a third term in north Tampa's District 67. She defeated Republican newcomer Lisette Bonano, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan.
  • U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Haitian-American Democrat, was re-elected to Congressional District 20, the Broward-Palm Beach district she won in a January special election to succeed the late Congressman Alcee Hastings. With 78 percent of the vote, she handily fended off a challenge from Republican Drew-Montez Clark.
  • Former Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala, an Orlando Democrat and Florida's first Black state attorney, was unable to unseat Republican incumbent State Attorney General Ashley Moody.
  • Cuban-American businesswoman Janelle Perez, a protege of Republican former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, was defeated in her first bid for elected office by Republican Alexis Calatayud, a 28- year-old Cuban American and former Florida International University student body president, in Miami-Dade's redistricted Senate District 38.

Tags: Government/Politics & Law, Extra, Decision 2022

Florida Business News

  • Florida’s population boom drives bigger hurricane losses, despite tougher building codes

    Florida leads the nation in strict building codes, and the decades of hard work have paid off in the increasing number of homes and buildings that survive each time a hurricane slashes the state. But all those hard-won gains have been undermined by the explosion of growth along the coast.

  • Business BeatBusiness Beat - Week of September 29th

    Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video news brief, hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.

  • Enterprise Florida exiting

    The doors are ready to close on Enterprise Florida, the business-recruitment agency long targeted by state House leaders.

  • Seeking protection

    Three activist groups served notice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to sue to force the agency to invoke Endangered Species Act protection for the ghost orchid.

  • State jobless claims decrease

    An estimated 5,155 first-time jobless claims were filed in Florida last week, a decrease from the previous week and below the average for the year.

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Radioactive roads? Florida has yet to submit application to EPA to start testing
Radioactive roads? Florida has yet to submit application to EPA to start testing

It appears no steps have been taken to begin testing whether slightly radioactive waste from fertilizer production can be repurposed for Florida road construction projects.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Do you believe that home values in Florida have finally peaked?

  • Absolutely!
  • No way!
  • The jury's still out...
  • Other (Let us know in the comment section below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2023 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.