Democrats are looking to turn South Florida's District 26 seat blue in November, and are hoping Debbie Mucarsel-Powell can beat U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo.
In the race for District 26, created in 2012 and whose first Representative was Democrat Joe Garcia, Curbelo easily won the Republican nomination for his South Florida congressional seat, setting up a battle with Mucarsel-Powell in November.
Curbelo will seek a second reelection after defeating Garcia in 2014 and 2016.
Curbelo easily defeated Souraya Faas, and has better name recognition than Mucarsel-Powell.
But District 26, which includes parts of Southern Miami-Dade County and Monroe County, tends to be liberal and in the last two presidential elections voted decisively for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Curbelo, a Cuban-American, has held moderate positions in matters like immigration policy.
Curbelo served on the Miami-Dade County Public School board before taking office in 2015.
Mucarsel-Powell beat Demetries Grimes for the nomination on Tuesday. A native of Ecuador, Mucarsel-Powell runs a consulting business and unsuccessfully sought a Florida state Senate seat in 2016.
