Margaret Hostetter's 47,768 votes were not nearly enough to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz Tuesday. Wasserman won an easy third term representing the 20th congressional district with 163,946 votes, 78 percent of the total.
For Hostetter, the race has been a constant uphill battle, beginning when Wasserman Schultz raised $1.2 million mostly from political action committees. Hostetter's only funds throughout the campaign were the $10,000 that came out of her own pocket.
"It was very easy for her," Hostetter said, "This system is designed to favor the incumbent."
Hostetter ran solely to provide an alternative to the voters of the mostly Democratic District 20, which covers much of western Broward County and a slice of Miami-Dade County's northern coast.
"I wanted to give the people an option," Hostetter said, "We have serious problems and I feel I have respectable and beneficial solutions."
Margaret Hostetter and Debbie Wasserman Schultz are familiar names to voters in Florida's Congressional District 20. Wasserman Schultz defeated Hostetter in 2004 as the heavy favorite. She had been a state legislator since 1992 and had more than $1 million in funding and endorsements from 30 organizations and unions. She advanced to a second term in 2006, unopposed, which motivated Hostetter to run again.
The two candidates differ over many social and fiscal issues. Hostetter ran in 2008 with no party affiliation, yet she has been a longtime Republican activist and member of the Christian Coalition. Hostetter is pro-life and against the government's economic bailout a few months ago. Democrat Wasserman Schultz supports abortion, gay rights and the bailout plan.
Hostetter is a realtor who lives in Davie with her husband Paul Kelly Moore. She has two children named Jennifer, 34, and David, 24.
In 2002, she was appointed to a diversity committee for Broward County public schools. She became known for her tough stand against teaching tolerance towards homosexuals, which she claimed was an attempt to force acceptance of an abnormal lifestyle.
Briton Alonso
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