Democratic challenger Chris Chiari was defeated again by Republican incumbent Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff Tuesday night taking only 41 percent of the vote in his second bid for the District 91 seat in the state House of Representatives.
Bogdanoff received 34,519 votes to Chiari's 24,166 in a district that includes portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Chiari expected a close election despite being enormously outspent. He received an estimated $85,000 in contributions while his opponent received an estimated $527,000.
"It was a great fight and the results were unbelievable but it shows the power of special interest dollars and it shows the power of $400,000 of T.V.," Chiari said
In 2006, Chiari ran against Bogdanoff and captured more than 46 percent of the vote, despite being outspent 11 to one.
Both candidates are in favor of investing in alternative energy. Chiari wants to preserve the biofuel industry and natural resources along with encouraging expansion of solar power.
Both candidates called for an improvement to education. Chiari promised to reduce class sizes and back science over ideology in the state's curriculum while retaining the best teachers in Florida by compensation.
The candidates each received endorsements from labor unions, political action committees and other organizations.
Chiari was endorsed by state and Broward county firefighters along with the Broward Teachers Union and three labor unions from Broward, Palm Beach and the state respectively.
Bogdanoff received endorsements from political action committees in the medical community, the Professional Firefighters and Paramedics of Palm Beach County and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the state's largest federation of employers.
Chiari was born in 1973 in Englewood, New Jersey and is a graduate of Admiral Farragut Academy, the country's only naval military honor high school. After graduating he attended Clark University obtaining a bachelor's degree in the science of economics. Afterwards he moved to California and founded the American Millennium Investment Corp in 1997. In 2000, he moved back to South Florida.
He is a member of the North Broward Democratic Club and was president of the Broward Young Democrats.
Chiari is part of the Facilities Task Force of the Broward County School Board tasked with the investigation of air quality and environmental complaints submitted by teachers and administrators. He also serves on the Broward Marine Advisory Board which handles issues on recreational boating.
Gabriel Garcia
1 comment:
This article is one-sided. Did you even try to call the Representative for a response? Could it be possible that Bogdanoff won because she had tremendous community support that feels she deserves another two years in office? To publish such a biting quote without even asking for a response is irresponsible at best.
Plus there is a Fact error (which if you went to UF would be -50%). Chiari received less than 46% of the vote in 2006 (45.2%)
F-
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