Brown-Waite Wins Fourth Term

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite won a fourth term Tuesday, fending off Democratic challenger John Russell for the third time.

Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, had 61 percent of the vote in her bid to keep the Congressional District 5 seat with most precincts reporting. Russell, a 52-year-old acute care nurse practitioner from Dade City, had 39 percent.

The Fifth District includes all of Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties and portions of Lake, Levy, Pasco, Polk and Marion counties.

Brown-Waite won handily in Hernando, taking 58 percent of the vote.

The race marked the third time Russell has tried to grab the seat from Brown-Waite, 65. She beat Russell handily in 2006, earning 60 percent of the vote.

A contest that saw some testy exchanges between Brown-Waite and Russell in 2004 and 2006 was calmer this time, mainly because Brown-Waite attended few candidate forums and never appeared at the same event as Russell. Russell claimed Brown-Waite was avoiding him as well as the voters, a charge she denied.

But late Tuesday, Brown-Waite admitted she had been avoiding Russell, not because she didn't want to debate him, but because she promised her husband Harvey before he died in August after a battle with cancer.

Harvey Waite asked her to make that promise "because of (Russell's) propensity for physical aggression," Brown-Waite said. She was alluding to an incident in Citrus County in 2006 when Russell allegedly pushed Harvey Waite.

"Win or lose I was going to keep my promise to Harvey," she said.

"I'm not even going to comment on that," Russell said Tuesday night. He also declined to comment when asked if he would try again in 2010.

Brown-Waite said she would continue to work toward the creation of a national catastrophic fund and "continue to work in a bipartisan manner for veterans."

Russell tried to cast the incumbent as, in his words, "a go-along-to-get-along career politician" who has done little for voters in the last six years in Congress.

As in past campaigns, Russell came prepared with detailed plans to address health care, immigration, the economy and the war in Iraq, among other major issues. But as was also the case in his previous efforts to unseat Brown-Waite, Russell garnered little support from the state or national Democratic parties.

It was clear, too, that Brown-Waite didn't consider Russell as a serious threat. Her campaign Web site is still little more than a shell, and she spent a fraction of her massive campaign war chest.

The district has the second-highest number of veterans of any district in the country, and Brown-Waite played to her audience.

She touted her work to expand the GI Bill to give new education benefits to all post-Sept. 11 veterans, including National Guard and Reserve members, and made sure to mention efforts to expand existing VA clinics and ensure funding for new ones.

She also noted how she bucked President Bush on a few major issues, such as the proposal to allow for the investment of some Social Security benefits. She also voted against both financial bailout bills.

Brown-Waite started her political career in 1990 as Hernando County commissioner. She served in the Florida Senate from 1992 to 2002.

U.S. House District 5

Ginny Brown-Waite, Republican (incumbent): 61 percent.

John Russell, Democrat: 39 percent.