Cox, Stern locked in close race to replace Palm Beach State Attorney Aronberg

Democrat Alexcia Cox and Republican Sam Stern were locked in a tight race for Palm Beach State Attorney Tuesday night, with early and absentee voting results giving Cox a head start and Stern closing the gap to within a percentage point with most of the Election Day votes tallied.

The race was destined to defy easy prediction. While Democrats hold a registration advantage in the county, Republicans have recently shown the ability to carry a majority. Gov. Ron DeSantis defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist in Palm Beach two years ago.

This year, with Palm Beach resident Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in a state he was widely expected to win, Stern was positioned to pull off a down-ticket upset, especially with the endorsement of his opponent’s challengers for the Democratic nomination. During the campaign, Stern pointed to those candidates as current employees of the State Attorney’s Office who know Cox best.

But in the early and mail-in voting, the registration advantage held up. Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 45,000, and Cox’s lead was about half that. Cox went in with the support of outgoing State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who was first elected in 2012 and popular enough to not even draw a challenger when he was last re-elected four years ago.

Election Day results cut into Cox’s lead with all but four precincts reporting. She was not willing to declare victory with results from 39 precincts remaining earlier in the evening, and Stern was not willing to concede defeat. As of 9:30 p.m., results from four precincts were still not reported, and some mail-in results had yet to be counted, according to the Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections website.

Cox’s lead was 0.59%, a sliver above the 0.5% margin that would trigger an automatic recount.

Cox is also running in part on making history: If she wins, she will be the county’s first Black and first female State Attorney. Her demographic credentials parallel the name at the top of the Democratic ticket, Kamala Harris, running to be the country’s first Black female president.

The early and absentee results in Palm Beach County also favored Harris, but her lead was almost identical to Cox’s as the Election Day results were posted.

Cox, 44, is Aronberg’s current deputy chief assistant state attorney, while Stern, 43, is a former state and federal prosecutor now in private practice and who teaches trial advocacy at the University of Miami and University of Virginia law schools.

An independent, Adam Farkas, was also in the race but picking up less than 3% of the vote.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at moc.lenitnesnus@ademlor or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.