Clemons Claims Victory - FL 2018 General Election Coverage

Chuck Clemons will continue to serve the state of Florida as Representative of District 21 following a tight race with Democratic Challenger Jason Haeseler on Tuesday evening.

The Republican Incumbent described the race as a "nail bighter" as the first set of precinct results were announced at 8:00pm on Tuesday evening. For most of the night, Clemons trailed behind opponent Haesler by under ten percentage points.

Clemons has represented citizens of Alachua, Dixie, and Gilchrist county for the past two years focusing primarily on increasing funding for education and the environment. Supporters of Clemons, such as Robin Steele, say they feel they can stand behind Clemons because he is truly "one of them".

“I like that he’s from this area and I like that he grew up in this area. He worked his way through college here. He’s very much into the economy, he just really care’s about his district. You can see that he cares about his constituents and he’s there, he’s very accessible to them. I know he’ll continue with that because he really cares for his community," said Steele.

Toward the end of the evening, Clemons made a quick jump in the polls, leading Haeseler with 51% of the vote.

“We never know what the outcome is until the last vote is counted and certainly there’s suspense," said Clemons, "With only seven precincts left, anything can happen in the next 10 to 20 minutes."

Ultimately, the Republican Incumbent held his lead, beating his rival by maintaining a 2 percentage point lead.

Clemons says his next steps are to return to the State Capitol and "continue to listen to the voices of people in District 21".

Candidate Chuck Clemons (R) poses with supporters following his victory against Democratic candidate, Jason Haeseler, for the seat of FL State Representative of District 21.

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