Joe Negron

Joe Negron (born October 9, 1961) is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives who served from 2000 to 2006. He represented District 82, serving Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie Counties and was chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He graduated from Stetson University in 1983 and from Emory University School of Law in 1986.

In 2006, he ran against former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination of Florida Attorney General, a position vacated by the incumbent, Charlie Crist, but Negron dropped out and endorsed McCollum. Negron cited McCollum's greater name recognition as his reason for dropping out. [John Kennedy, [http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/attorney_generals_race/index.html Last Republican Standing] , The "Orlando Sentinel" blog, Jul 17, 2006.] Though Negron had raised more money than McCollum, the latter's fundraising had begun to steamroll, leaving the impression that McCollum would indeed have greater funding than Negron. [Aaron Sharockman, [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/18/State/Race_for_attorney_gen.shtml Race for attorney general is already down to two] , The "St. Petersburg Times", July 18, 2006 (retrieved 24 Oct 2006).]

On September 29, 2006, U.S. Representative Mark Foley abruptly resigned following allegations of inappropriate behavior between Foley and several teenage male pages. On October 2, Negron was selected to replace Foley as the Republican candidate in the 16th district congressional race. His Democratic opponent was Tim Mahoney.

Foley's name stayed on the ballot, but all votes for Foley were transferred to Negron. Former Florida Republican Party chair Tom Slade stated: "It's a death sentence. Mission impossible. The only way you win is they have got to vote for Mark Foley. That doesn't appear to me to be very attractive." [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217258,00.html GOP Picks Negron to Replace Foley on Florida Ballot] "FOXnews", October 3, 2006. The campaign used the slogan "Punch Foley for Negron" as a means of educating the public about the ballot situation and as a means of differentiating the two men, making voting for Foley more palatable.]

Nonetheless, Negron managed to close the gap in the waning days of the election, and he only lost by 1.8 percentage points. Negron carried the more conservative areas in the western portion of the district, near Fort Myers. However, he lost badly in the two largest counties of the district, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties.

A native of West Palm Beach, Negron is of Puerto Rican ancestry. [Lydia Guzmán, [http://www.endi.com/XStatic/endi/template/nota.aspx?n=83493 Aspira al Congreso un republicano con sangre boricua] , El Nuevo Día, retrieved 24 Oct 2006.]

External links

* [http://www.joenegron.com/Pages/About/AboutJoe.aspx Bio from Congressional Campaign Web site]
* [http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4212 Florida house page]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/us/02foley.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin "New York Times" article on Congressional seat race]

References