Florida Win Assures Woman House Seat

In voting delayed by Hurricane Andrew, Democratic state Sen. Carrie Meek won a Florida primary Tuesday that will make her the state’s first black in Congress since Reconstruction. She faces no Republican opponent for the House seat.

Some Dade County voters had to cast ballots in Army tents because of the hurricane damage. Florida’s 66 other counties voted as scheduled Sept. 1.

The winner of another Florida congressional primary Tuesday will be the first Cuban-born man in Congress. Republican state Sen. Lincoln Diaz-Balart was defeating state Sen. Javier Souto, 69% to 31%, with 100% of the votes counted. There is no Democratic opposition.

With 100% of the precincts tallied in her district, Meek had 82% of the vote; state Rep. Darryl Reaves and law professor Donald Jones split the rest.

Elsewhere, state Sen. Russell Feingold won Wisconsin’s Democratic Senate primary in an upset Tuesday on the strength of an outsider’s offbeat campaign. New Hampshire Gov. Judd Gregg, a career politician, cruised to victory in a Republican primary to pick a replacement for retiring Sen. Warren B. Rudman.

Incumbent Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Bob Kasten (R-Wis.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were renominated easily, and Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) was expected to join them.

GOP House members in Arizona and Alaska faced stiff challenges after writing bad checks at the House bank.

To date, 17 House members have been defeated in primary elections this year, some because of the bank scandal, others because redistricting threw them into unfamiliar districts.

One more primary loss would tie the record established in 1946.

In Wisconsin, Feingold defeated one better-known opponent, veteran Rep. Jim Moody, and one better-financed rival, businessman Joe Checota, to claim the ballot spot opposite Kasten this fall. The 39-year-old Rhodes scholar generally stayed clear of negative advertising that his rivals used, and was gaining 65% of the vote in a five-way race.

Gregg, a two-term governor and former four-term House member, was gaining 52% of the GOP vote, to 37% for businessman Hal Eckman. Millionaire John Rauh won a five-way race for the Democratic nomination with about 50% of the vote.

Leahy had no primary opposition in Vermont in his bid for a fourth term. Secretary of State James Douglas won the GOP primary and will oppose him in the fall.