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Janet Cruz appears to win Florida Senate after manual recount wraps

The Tampa Democrat was up by a narrow, but comfortable margin that appears to be safe.
Republican incumbent Dana Young and Democratic challenger Janet Cruz are seeking election in state Senate District 18.
Republican incumbent Dana Young and Democratic challenger Janet Cruz are seeking election in state Senate District 18.
Published Nov. 16, 2018|Updated Nov. 16, 2018

In Hillsborough County's manual recount on Friday, Rep. Janet Cruz picked up 17 votes while her opponent in this Tampa state senate race, Republican incumbent Dana Young, managed to increase her tally by 11.

That means the latest vote total for Cruz is 104,018. Young's total is 103,636. The difference of 382 votes may be changed slightly because overseas ballots are still coming in, said Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer.

But Latimer told the Times that even after those ballots are all counted, there probably aren't enough to change the outcome.

That means, after a machine recount and a hand recount, Cruz appears to be headed to the Florida Senate.