Martinez Defeats Castor to Grab Florida Senate Seat

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The New York Sun

ORLANDO, Fla.- Republican Mel Martinez, a Cuban emigre who left President Bush’s Cabinet to run for the Senate, narrowly defeated Democrat Betty Castor to complete a GOP sweep in Senate races across the South.


Mr. Martinez will become the nation’s first Cuban-American senator.


The former housing secretary held a lead of 81,000 votes out of more than 7.1 million counted in the race to replace retiring Senator Graham. Ms. Castor conceded the race yesterday, saying she didn’t think she could get enough votes when the thousands of absentee ballots were counted.


“This is as close as it gets, in my humble estimation,” Ms. Castor told reporters in Tampa.


Mr. Martinez had declared victory several hours earlier, saying at an Orlando hotel, “This is not a night for lawyers. I won. It’s over.”


Mr. Martinez said he was grateful Ms. Castor decided not to contest the outcome.


“I appreciated her willingness to let this campaign come to a conclusion,” he said. “It showed as great deal of concern for the people of Florida.”


If the margin of victory had been one-half of 1% or less, an automatic machine recount would have been ordered by elections supervisors.


Florida was part of a Republican rout in the South that also saw the GOP pick up Democrat-held seats in North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia.


Mr. Martinez, who fled Cuba on his own as a 15-year-old, ran for Mr. Graham’s seat at the urging of the White House.


He was helped by campaign appearances from the president and several of his surrogates, including former first lady Barbara Bush and Mayor Giuliani. The president called with congratulations yesterday morning. Later in the day, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist flew to Orlando to present Mr. Martinez with a navy-blue “Class of 2005” cap.


Ms. Castor, a former state education commissioner and University of South Florida president, had appeared with Senator Kerry and his running mate, Senator Edwards, in the election’s closing days.


The race was marked by a nasty back-and-forth on Ms. Castor’s handling of former USF professor Sami Al-Arian, who has been accused of funding a Palestinian terrorist group.


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