Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz Tops Challenger Carla Spalding In Race For 23rd Congressional District
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz won another term in office by beating her closest opponent Tuesday night, Republican Carla Spalding to keep her 23rd Congressional District seat.
The congresswoman, who received 59 percent of the vote, is in her eighth term representing southern and western Broward and northeast Miami-Dade County, is no stranger to being an appropriator. She's been gone for 11 of her 15 years in Congress and currently serves as the Chairwoman of the subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.
Wasserman Schultz was running to become the Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, when the current committee Chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, retires next year.
The committee is responsible for the money that runs the government and covers a range of federal agencies and programs that affect the nation and Florida, including Everglades restoration; ports, roads and bridges; climate change; beach renourishment; military bases and the National Aeronautics and Space administration.
Wasserman Schultz spoke to CBS4's Jim DeFede and explained why she wanted to keep her job.
"It's time to bring the committee and the appropriations process into the 21st century. Anyone you ask would say that the appropriations process is broken. We are living from continuing resolution to continuing resolution. We almost never finish our work on time, I can't recall the last time we finished our work on time. We deal with government shutdowns," she told DeFede. "I want to be able to serve as a bridge through generational diversity and also as someone who has a proven ability to reach across the aisle and make sure we can work to get things done which is essential because this is the only bill we have to pass every year and as we've seen, we crash and burn when the government shuts down."