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Al Lawson Elected Congressman Of District Five

Regan McCarthy WFSU News

Al Lawson can officially call himself District Five’s Congressman. The former Florida state senator has been the heir apparent for the position since winning the primary against incumbent Corrine Brown and he quickly took the seat Tuesday. Lawson says he wants to focus on making college more accessible.

“One of the first things I want to work on with the higher education reauthorization act, I want to make sure that we do something to help students—to student loan situation, provide more grant opportunities to them, so that every kid will have the opportunity to go to college,” Lawson says.

Lawson says he’ll also work to protect the environment and hopes to address growing healthcare concerns. Lawson beat his opponent Republican Glo Smith in the heavily Democratic district. He took 64 percent of the vote compared to Smith’s 35.8 percent.

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Regan McCarthy is the Assistant News Director for WFSU Public Media. Before coming to Tallahassee, Regan graduated with honors from Indiana University’s Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. She worked for several years for NPR member station WFIU in Bloomington, Ind., where she covered local and state government and produced feature and community stories.

Phone: (850) 645-6090 | rmccarthy@fsu.edu

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