U.S. Congress: GOP icon Harris beats ex-Clinton aide

TALLAHASSEE -- Katherine Harris , who became a GOP idol in the 2000 presidential recount, was elected to Congress Tuesday.

Republicans also won Florida's two new congressional seats.

Republicans went into the election with a 15-8 majority in Florida. Not only did they gain the two new seats, they also wrested away a seat from Rep. Karen Thurman, D-Dunnellon, who lost a tight race with state Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite.

Harris, Florida's former secretary of state, beat Democrat Jan Schneider, a Sarasota lawyer, 55 to 45 percent in the 13th District. Harris succeeds Rep. Dan Miller, R-Bradenton, who didn't seek re-election.

Schneider is a friend and former Yale Law School classmate of ex-President Bill Clinton.

Walking into her victory party, Harris was greeted by more than 600 cheering supporters as the song Another One Bites the Dust played.

"I'm so very deeply humbled," she said, joined by her parents and her husband onstage.

She also had a message to Schneider's supporters. "I pledge to work even harder over the next two years to inspire your confidence and support," she said.

In the new 24th District in Central Florida, Florida House Speaker Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, defeated Democrat Harry Jacobs, an Altamonte Springs lawyer, 61 to 39 percent.

State Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart won the state's other new district, the 25th in South Florida, and will join his brother in Congress. He led state Rep. Annie Betancourt, D-Miami, 64 to 36 percent.

Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, was re-elected without opposition. The brothers' victories give Cuban-Americans their third Florida congressional seat.

In another family act, state Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, defeated a write-in candidate in the 17th district to win Florida's only other open seat. It was vacated by his mother, Rep. Carrie Meek, also a Miami Democrat, who is retiring after five terms.

Other Republican incumbents re-elected included Ander Crenshaw, Jacksonville; Dave Weldon, Melbourne; Mark Foley, West Palm Beach: Cliff Stearns, Ocala; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Miami; and Jeff Miller, Chumuckla.

Others appearing headed for re-election included Reps. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale; John Mica, R-Winter Park; Ric Keller, R-Orlando; Allen Boyd, D-Monticello; and Corinne Brown , D-Jacksonville.

Leading their races were Democratic incumbents Alcee Hastings of Fort Lauderdale and Robert Wexler of Boca Raton.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart was among six Florida incumbents re-elected without opposition.