WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A House race in a South Florida congressional district Democrats had targeted as an easy pickup in their bid take control of Congress is neck-and-neck, according to the results of a new Mason Dixon-Telemundo poll.
The poll showed Republican Spanish-language television journalist Maria Elvira Salazar with a slim 44 percent to 42 percent lead over Democratic former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala in Florida's 27th congressional district.
The two-point gap is well within the poll's margin of error, although the results may still raise concerns among Democrats, as Hillary Clinton won the district by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.
Salazar and Shalala are running to replace retiring Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who has represented the district since it was created in 2013.
The advantage for Salazar reflects support among men, older voters, and Cuban-Americans, while Shalala leads among women, younger voters, blacks, and non-Cuban Hispanics.
A report from Politico noted Shalala's advantage among non-Cuban Hispanics is much narrower than the leads Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., have among the group.
The Mason Dixon-Telemundo survey of 625 registered voters in Florida's 27th Congressional district was conducted October 1st through 6th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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