Rooney cruises to District 19 Congressional win
There will be at least one fresh face in Washington, D.C., soon after Tuesday’s voting results for the U.S. Congress District 19 seat.
Naples businessman Francis Rooney, a Republican, was the runaway winner in the August primary and followed up on Tuesday with another in the general election. In Lee County, Rooney garnered more than 64 percent of the votes at 175,728 while Democrat Robert Neeld of Cape Coral pulled in 35 percent, or 97,838 votes, in the race for the seat previously held by Curt Clawson, who decided not to run for a second two-year term.
In Lee County, more than 78 percent of all registered voters cast ballots by mail, by voting early or on Tuesday at the polls.
District wide, Rooney finished with 237,290 votes (66 percent) to 122,587 for Neeld (34 percent). Two write-in candidates in the race, David Byron of Cape Coral and Tim Rossano of Fort Myers, got no significant support.
Rooney did not immediately return calls for comment.
Rooney, 62, has never held political office, but has a long history of political involvement as a GOP fundraiser and as Ambassador to the Holy See. He holds a law degree from Georgetown University.
He replaces Clawson, who won the seat in a special election in 2014 after Rep. Trey Radel resigned after being arrested for cocaine possession in the nation’s capital. After just four months in office, Clawson ran for a full two-year term and defeated Democrat April Freeman collecting 64.5 percent of the vote in November 2014.
Earlier this year, Clawson announced that he would not run again, opening the door for a fresh candidate.