Democrat Matt Willhite defeated Republican Laurel Bennett on Tuesday, Nov. 8 in the race for State Representative in District 86.
Willhite garnered 41,848 votes (57.58 percent) to Bennett’s 30,833 votes (42.42 percent), according to unofficial results.
Willhite will replace term-limited State Rep. Mark Pafford, also a Democrat. District 86 includes all of Wellington, Royal Palm Beach and Loxahatchee Groves, as well as several communities to the east.
“I feel good,” he said Wednesday. “I’m happy. I’m relieved. I’m ready to get to work. I’ve been in this race for two years. It was a long time, a long campaign — longer because of all the national politics and the things affecting people. But I’m excited and anxious to get to work. It’s a new challenge.”
While Willhite served eight years as a Wellington councilman, the transition from representing one community to many in a much larger district is not something that has gone unnoticed.
“I think the biggest election I had in Wellington was probably 6,000 people,” he said. “This is a much larger number, a lot more people that I’m responsible to who have high expectations of me. Obviously, I don’t want to fail. They put their trust in me. I want to fulfill that trust that they’ll be offering me in this position and be their voice in representing them.”
There’s no down time, either. Willhite’s first meeting took place Thursday, Nov. 10. He has orientation next week, and he must set up an office with staff as he learns to navigate Tallahassee in his new role. He’ll be sworn in Nov. 22.
“One of the things that I’m looking at doing for sure is some constituent outreach. Right now, I have to get at least two staff members, open an office, and get up to speed on all of that stuff,” he said.
To those who voted for him, Willhite is honored.
“I appreciate their support,” he said. “I appreciate their encouragement, because I got a lot of encouragement along the way… I’m glad that they voted for me. Those who didn’t, I hope to earn their trust and respect. Hopefully they will see that, at the end of the day, I will work hard to try and earn their trust and accomplish as much as we can.”
Willhite reminded the community that he will be accessible to them. “I want them to know me and know that that I am accessible and available to them and try to meet their needs,” he said. “We have a diverse district here; I certainly want to try to meet the needs of that diverse district and try and be beneficial to them and prosperous to them for their needs.”
Groups and organizations have already reached out to Willhite, who wants to hear what they have to say and see how he can ensure that the six bills he is able to put forward are beneficial to the district and achievable, helping Florida residents and visitors.
He gave a great deal of credit to his support system.
“I had a group of hard-working people. Whether it was canvassers, poll watchers or phone calls, or all those people who were there to help me who I knew and had direct contact on, are so important,” he said. “Even more special are the ones who I didn’t know, the ones who were out there helping me, the ones who were calling their friends and neighbors, saying, ‘You need to vote for this guy.’ They had no connection, they had no responsibilities to me. They just felt like I was the right candidate.”
On Tuesday night, Willhite was surrounded by friends and family at the Palm Beach County Democratic Election Night Watch Party at the Embassy Suites hotel.
“My mom was there. I know she’s very proud of me. My aunt was down here from Michigan. My cousin was down and worked with me on both elections. Obviously, my wife was there with me and was happy,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, Willhite told his two sons, Mark and Luke, that he had won the election, and they were excited by the news.
“It’s a big step for me, and I think it’s a big accomplishment for me and my family, and they’re 100 percent a part of that accomplishment,” he said.
As Willhite absorbs the election results, now being one of 160 people to set laws for the 20 million residents of the State of Florida, he understands it’s a big responsibility that he is ready to tackle.
“I think I ran a good, clean campaign. I never said anything negative about my opponent,” he said. “We talked about the issues. We stayed on track, we stayed on point on what was important to this district and the people. I think that resonated well with people on both sides of the aisle.”
In other local races:
• In the State House District 85 race, Republican Rick Roth took 49,684 votes (57.74 percent), defeating Democrat Robert Simeone, who tallied 36,365 votes (42.26 percent).
• In the State Senate District 25 race, Republican incumbent Joe Negron received 152,850 votes (64.83 percent), defeating Democrat Bruno Moore, who had 82,910 votes (35.17 percent).
• In the State Senate District 30 race, Democratic State Rep. Bobby Powell earned a promotion, defeating Republican Ron Berman. Powell took 118,471 votes (54.02 percent) to Berman’s 100,853 votes (45.98 percent).
