Katherine Harris elected to Congress

Associated Press

SARASOTA, Fla. - Former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was elected to Congress Tuesday, easily defeating a friend of former President Clinton.

Harris defeated Democrat Jan Schneider in the race to represent District 13 in southwest Florida, which includes Harris' hometown of Sarasota.

Walking into her election party at about 10 p.m., she was greeted by more than 600 cheering supporters as the song "Another One Bites the Dust" played.

"I'm so very deeply humbled," she said, joined by her parents and her husband on stage.

She also had a message to Schneider's supporters.

"I pledge to work even harder over the next two years to inspire your confidence and support," she said.

With all precincts reporting, Harris had 138,943 votes, or 55 percent, compared with Schneider's 114,622 votes, or 45 percent.

"I'm a little overwhelmed," she told reporters after her speech. "We thought it would be so close. We were working so hard with our grass roots effort."

Harris is best known for her role in the 2000 presidential election and resulting recount.

She said she didn't think voters focused on the past.

"We just took our message to the people," she said. "For those who didn't support me, I'll work very hard and hopefully will earn their support next time around."

The district includes all of Hardee, DeSoto and Sarasota counties, a majority of Manatee County and a portion of Charlotte County.

Schneider, a Yale law school classmate of Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has said she entered the race because she didn't like the widespread assumption that Harris was a shoo in. Schneider worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.

"It's a victory because we made this a campaign on the issues," Schneider said Tuesday night. "We made this an election not a coronation."

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002

Answers

harris is going to work harder for Schneider's supporters. Harder for them than her own supporters? I don't think so.

Schneider didn't like the widespread assumption that harris was a shoo in. Well, guess she was wrong. LOL

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002