An Open Seat Reaches Into Collier and Hendry: Democrat Pia Dandiya and Republican Casey Askar Close Out Florida's New 22nd District
Redistricting drew a congressional district from Palm Beach County clear across the state into Naples and the Hendry County interior — and with no incumbent, two first-time candidates are asking Southwest Florida voters to send one of them to Washington.
Naples — One of Florida's most unusual congressional races ends on Tuesday, and its western edge runs through Southwest Florida. The state's newly redrawn 22nd Congressional District stretches across parts of Palm Beach, Broward, Hendry and Collier counties, and because the new boundaries left it without an incumbent, the seat is open — a rarity that has drawn two candidates who have never held office.
The Democrat is Pia Dandiya, 39, who was born and raised in Palm Beach County and has made education, the cost of living and government accountability the center of her campaign, as she described in an interview on CBS Miami's Facing South Florida. The Republican is Casey Askar, a Naples businessman and Marine veteran who won his party's nomination. Askar's Naples base gives the district's Southwest Florida end a hometown candidate; Dandiya's case rests on the district's eastern population centers and the issues she has campaigned on across all four counties.
For voters in Collier and Hendry counties, the race is a reminder that redistricting redrew more than lines — it handed this corner of Florida a new member of Congress to choose, in a district most of its voters have never voted in before. Polls are open Tuesday, November 3, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, and mail ballots must be in the county supervisor of elections' hands by 7 p.m. to count.
