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Pasco Voters Propel Mitchell To District 9 Win

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 27, 2008

A strong finish in Pasco County helped Carrollwood lawyer Bill Mitchell win the hotly contested U.S. House District 9 Democratic primary race. He will face Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, in the general election.

In other congressional races in the area, Dunedin Mayor Bob Hackworth won the District 10 race and will face Republican C.W. Bill Young in November. John Russell of Dade City came out on top in the District 5 contest and faces an uphill battle against Republican Ginny Brown-Waite.

In the District 9 race, former Plant City Mayor John Dicks was unable to overcome the 1,000-vote lead Mitchell gained in Pasco County, where he captured 45 percent of the vote.

Speaking from a New Tampa restaurant, where he and supporters watched election returns on television and election Web sites, Mitchell said he divided his campaign time evenly among the three counties in the district. "We share patriot values, and there are a lot of veterans there Pasco," said Mitchell, a former U.S. Navy officer.

Mitchell said he remained optimistic during the evening as returns came in, and felt he would fare well enough in his home county of Hillsborough to preserve the lead gained in Pasco.

He said he looks forward to the general election when he will face Bilirakis. "That's the next battle, but I think people in District 9 are ready to make a change."

Dicks, a 58-year-old lawyer who served nine years on the Plant City Commission, including three as mayor, had been considered by many as a front-runner in the three-way race. His campaign captured the attention of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which in mid-June designated it as one of the nation's top 20 emerging races nationwide.

Mitchell, 61, fought a hard campaign for the seat he first eyed in 2006. Anita De Palma, 66, of Clearwater, finished last in the three-way race.

U.S. House 10th District

In Pinellas County, Dunedin Mayor Hackworth and about 150 supporters got the party under way early at La Maison Gourmet in downtown Dunedin, as he easily pulled away from his two Democratic opponents in the U.S. Congressional District 10 primary.

Hackworth grabbed 47 percent of the vote, leaving Samm Simpson, with 29 percent, and Max Linn, 24 percent.

Hackworth, 53, knocked on 14,000 doors during the campaign, and said it paid off. He said he was allowing himself the night to celebrate, then it will be right back to work to challenge Young, a 38-year incumbent.

Hackworth was elected to the Dunedin City Commission in 2002 and as mayor in 2006. He is a partner in a family business, H&H Publishing Co., and a graduate of the University of Florida, where he was a member of the track team.

U.S. House 5th District

In the U.S. House District 5 race, Russell bested two other Democrats in the bid to challenge three-term Republican stalwart Ginny Brown-Waite in the Nov. 4 election.

With 89 percent of the sprawling 5th District's precincts counted, Russell had won about half of the vote. Challenger Carol Castagnero trailed while H. David Werder was a distant third.

Russell, 52, of Dade City, came in second in a four-person Democratic primary ahead of the 2004 general election. But in 2006, he won the primary, beating Richard Penberthy, a high school teacher who ran an organized and respectably funded campaign. In the general election, Russell won only 40 percent of the vote to Brown-Waite's 60 percent.

Russell faces an uphill battle against Brown-Waite, who is running for her fourth term.

Brown-Waite defeated Republican Jim King - who had dropped out of the race after shortly after qualifying to run - although his name was still on Tuesday's ballot.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at gwilkens@tampatrib.com or (813) 865-4433. Reporters Christian M. Wade and Steven Girardi contributed to this report.

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