NEWS

Corrine Brown's lead is narrow in House re-election race, UNF poll says

Lawson is a close second; Smith far behind

Steve Patterson
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown holds a 3 percentage-point lead over former state Sen. Al Lawson in a contest for the Democratic nomination to represent the redrawn district Brown long opposed, a new poll finds.

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown holds a 3 percentage-point lead over former state Sen. Al Lawson in a contest for the Democratic nomination to represent the redrawn district Brown long opposed, a new poll finds.

Although many voters remain undecided, the report by the Public Opinion Research Laboratory at the University of North Florida reflects large bases of support for each candidate, a rare occurrence during Brown's 23 years in office.

"This is exactly the concern I think Corrine Brown was so nervous about," said Michael Binder, the political scientist who directs the lab.

The survey of 400 likely Democratic voters found Brown was supported by 30 percent and Lawson by 27 percent, with fully 40 percent who didn't know or wouldn't answer. A third Democrat, former Capitol Hill staffer LaShonda "LJ" Holloway, held 4 percent of the sample.

The winner of the Democrats' Aug. 30 primary faces the sole Republican contender, Gloreatha "Glo" Smith, in November.

The poll underscored sharp geographic differences in attitudes about the candidates.

Brown was preferred by 52 percent of the voters questioned in Duval County, but by only 14 percent in the seven other counties in the new 5th Congressional District, which stretches west to Gadsden County.

Lawson, who held seats in the Legislature from 1982 to 2010 representing voters around Tallahassee, had 40 percent support in the counties west of Jacksonville. His support dropped to 8 percent in Brown's home.

The numbers suggest both competitors have work they can do to strengthen their hand, Binder said.

He said the block of undecided voters, who are disproportionately white, reflect the fact that new district boundaries contain people who haven't been represented by anyone on this year's ballot.

Brown tried for years to avoid the wholesale changes to the district that were imposed by court order for this election.

Since 1993, she had represented a twisting, irregular district running from Jacksonville to Orlando, and fought court cases claiming it was illegally gerrymandered.

After Florida voters in 2010 approved a "Fair Districts" constitutional amendment, another round of court fights ended with an order setting the district's new east-west boundary. Brown had appealed that to the U.S. Supreme Court, but finally dropped that last week.

Steve Patterson: (904) 359-4263