Ed Narain, Dianne Hart and Tom Scott were among the winners of a straw poll conducted Thursday night at the Hillsborough County’s branch of the NAACP community forum at Middleton High School.
‘Tis the season for straw polls, and just as the GOP-flavored Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce skewed heavily Republican in its results earlier this week, the NAACP contingent went heavily Democratic in their choices. In fact, not a single Republican won an individual race in the poll.
Middleton High sits in the heart of East Tampa, an African-American enclave where there are intensely competitive Democratic primaries going in the district for House and Senate.
Narain edged out Betty Reed, 113-85, in the Senate District 19 contest. Republican John Houman was a distant third, followed by the two St. Petersburg based candidates, Darryl Rouson (who got 22 votes) and Augie Ribeiro (who received 9).
Dianne Hart narrowly edged out Walter Smith in the race for House District 61, 88-81. Attorney Sean Shaw, running again for the seat, finished third with 66 votes.
In the District 6 County Commission race, former City Councilman/County Commissioner Tom Scott won the plurality of votes with 99. Sierra Club activist Pat Kemp was second (61 votes), followed by attorney Brian Willis (38 votes), transportation consultant (and the lone Republican who appeared at the event) Tim Schock was fourth with 30 votes, Republican Jim Norman (a no-show) was fifth with 16 votes, and former Plant City Mayor John Dicks finished sixth with eight votes.
In the Senate contest, Patrick Murphy was first with 88 votes, followed by former JAG Navy officer Pam Keith, who received 49 votes. Marco Rubio was next with 47 votes, followed by Alan Grayson with 30 votes (at one point during the day Grayson was rumored to be making an appearance, but he did not).
Here’s the entire list of winners:
President – Hillary Clinton
Senate – Patrick Murphy
Congressional District 14 – Kathy Castor
Congressional District 15 – Jim Lange
State Attorney- Andrew Warren
Senate District 18 – Bob Buesing
Senate District 19 – Ed Narain
House District 58 – Jose Vasquez
House District 59 – Rena Frazier
House District 60 – David Singer
House District 61 – Dianne Hart
House District 63 – Lisa Montelione
Clerk of the Court – Pat Frank
Property Appraiser – Bob Henriquez
County Commission District 1 – Jeff Zampitella
County Commission District 6 – Thomas Scott
Circuit Judge, Group 3 – Carl Hinson
Circuit Judge, Group 24 -Missy Polo
County Judge, Group 10 – Miriam Valkenberg,
School Board, District 1 – Susan Valdes
School Board District 3 – Cindy Stuart
School Board District 5 – Jacqueline Coffie Leaks
School Board District 7 – Stanley Gray
