Kendrick Meek Wins Florida Election
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by Anna Zimmerman in Headlines, Politics
Hollywood, Florida– Four-term Rep. Kendrick Meek thanked President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton in his victory speech after defeating real estate mogul Jeff Greene in Florida’s Democratic Senate nomination.
The Florida Democratic Senate primary was supposed to be a sure win for Meek had billionaire Greene not joined the election on the last minute. The associated press reported that Greene had spend millions on television ads to beat the one time Florida Highway Patrol trooper. While Greene’s campaign team won’t confirm the amount, sources suggested a whooping $26 million.
But Meek was impervious and outworked his rival on getting his votes. Amidst the stories that Obama wasn’t offering enough support to help Meek’s bid for the Florida Democratic Primary which White House officials have recently denied.
“I’m encouraged by the numbers that we see right now, that we’re even being considered after $26 million. Usually it goes to the guy that runs the most television commercials, putting the mail in the most mailboxes. In this case people are looking at the grass-roots campaign we’ve run in the last year-and-a-half,”
said the son of former congresswoman in the north Miami Congressional district Rep . Carrie Meek.
The Florida Democratic Senate Primary had been a bit of an amusement with both candidates vilifying each other, and their hostility is unlikely to end with Tuesday’s announcement of the Election results.
Florida election winner Meek has called Greene a “bad man” who accumulated so much wealth on the expenses of the working class citizens; Green shot back at his mother former Rep. Carrie Meek, saying she was corrupt and was given a Cadillac Escalade in exchange for granting a developer a government project.
But it seemed like Florida had already made up its mind. The newly-minted Democratic nominee is overwhelmed and thankful for all the support, especially to President Obama, who appeared with him last week for a Democratic party fundraiser where Meek also spoke at, and Former Commander-in-Chief Clinton. Meek had also supported Sen. Hillary Clinton’s bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Rep. Kendrick Meek will face Republican Marco Rubio and Republican-turned-Independent Charlie Crist in the November general election fight.
Kendrick Brett Meek was born on September 6,1966 in Miami Florida. He is the son of former Rep. Carrie Meek and is married to Leslie Meek. He is a member of the New Democrat Coalition and has been a member of the United States House of Representative since 2003. Meek is representing Florida’s 17th Congressional district.
The once Florida Highway Patrol rose to the rank of captain later on. He was the first African- American to receive that title. Subsequently, he served in the Florida House of Representative from 1995 to 1998. Later he became member of the Florida State Senate from 1998 to 2002 and was elected to U.S. House of Representative on November 5, 2002, replacing his mother who retired from the seat.
On January 13,2009, Rep. Meek announced his intention to run for the Senate seat that Rep. Mel Martinez will vacate. On April 8, 2010, Rep. Kendrick Meek made history by becoming the first statewide candidate in Florida to qualify for ballot by petition.