Frederica Wilson enjoys comfortable lead in race to replace Meek

State Sen. Frederica Wilson leads in the Democratic primary for Florida U.S. House District 17 with almost 35 percent of the total votes. She has been in the Florida state legislature, as both a state representative and state Senator, since, 1998.

According to Florida Election Watch, Sen. Wilson is followed by Rudy Moise with 16 percent of the votes and Shirley Gibson with 12 percent of the votes.

Nine candidates campaigned in Broward and Miami-Dade counties to replace Kendrick Meek, who tonight defeated Jeff Greene in the U.S Senate Democratic primary.

TFI recently reported the leaders in this race Wilson, Moise, and Gibson, “have numerous ties to big-money South Florida interests.”

District 17 encompasses cities like Pembroke Pines in southern Broward that has seen sustained growth, as well as areas like Opa-Locka, Little Haiti, Liberty City, and Overtown in Miami-Dade that have suffered years of unemployment and lack of affordable housing.

In a recent event covered by TFI, residents, and activists of Liberty City and Overtown met “to discuss how they will involve their neighbors in a process of community oversight so Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds get invested where and how they are needed.”

Marlen Bastien, Philip Brutus, Yolly Roberson, and Moise — all of the Haitian descent — together gathered about 39 percent of the vote.