U.S. House of Representatives (2007–2009)
Mahoney, who was inspired by
Ronald Reagan to originally become a Republican, switched his party affiliation to the
Democratic Party in 2005, although still holding his conservative viewpoints, due to alleged "disillusionment" while in the GOP.
Elections 2006 Mahoney ran for Congress as a first-time political candidate in 2006 to represent . The district comprised eight counties, including part of
Palm Beach County and
St. Lucie County. Mahoney said that he decided to run largely due to frustration with Congressional Republicans and the Bush administration. Mahoney was unopposed in the September 5 Democratic primary election. In the general election, Mahoney faced six-term
Republican incumbent
Mark Foley, who had represented the district since 1995 and went unopposed in the Republican primary.
George W. Bush won the district with 54% of the vote, a margin of greater than 8% over Democratic nominee
John Kerry, in the
2004 presidential election. In the previous 2004 election for the seat, Foley won with 68% of the vote over the Democratic challenger. Mahoney was behind Foley in polls for the race, and trailed by double digits, despite spending almost $400,000 of his own money in the race. At the time, the race was not expected to be competitive, with Foley predicted to win easily over Mahoney. Mahoney also criticized Foley's voting record and his support of the
Bush administration's positions, including their policies on the
Iraq War and government spending. On September 28, 2006,
ABC News reported that Foley had sent email messages, from his personal
AOL account, to a then-16-year-old former
congressional page, asking the page to send a photo of himself to Foley, among other things that were overtly sexual in nature. The messages showed Foley, under the username "Maf54", trying to meet the teenage page, as well as referencing the page's sexual orientation. Mahoney called for an investigation into the matter, and Foley resigned the next day. Mahoney's campaign included the slogan "Restoring America's values begins at home."
Congressional Quarterly (CQ) shifted the race from safe Republican to tossup, and eventually to favoring Mahoney. Foley's resignation originally left Mahoney without a Republican opponent in the election. Under Florida law, Negron's name did not appear on the ballot; he only received votes cast for Foley, whose name remained on the ballot. Negron ran on a campaign which reminded voters to "Punch Foley for Joe", and said that the district's voters would not be "defined by the disgraceful actions" of Foley. Mahoney was endorsed by the
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, citing his successful business career and his moderate policies. However, while Mahoney still led in the polls, multiple predictors changed their ratings from favoring Mahoney to tossup. While Negron carried most of the more conservative areas of the district near
Fort Myers, Mahoney carried the two largest counties in the district,
Palm Beach and
St. Lucie counties, by a combined margin of 10,723 votes, far more than the actual margin of victory. Negron called Mahoney to congratulate him, and publicly conceded to his supporters at the Hutchinson Island Marriott. Mahoney was sworn in on January 3, 2007, to the
110th U.S. Congress.
2008 Mahoney ran for re-election to Congress in 2008, and went unopposed in the Democratic primary. Mahoney faced Republican challenger
Tom Rooney in the general election. Rooney defeated State Representative
Gayle Harrell and former Palm Beach Gardens councilman Hal Valeche in the Republican primary. Mahoney had been a top target for defeat in 2008, due to the district's Republican voting history, and was seen as the only Democrat from South Florida to be vulnerable to defeat. However, Mahoney initially led in surveys of the race. At one point in the campaign, Mahoney was shown to have a 20-point lead in the polls. In September 2008, a poll of 400 likely voters conducted by Rooney's campaign showed Mahoney with a 48 to 41 point lead over Rooney with a margin of error of 4 points. Revelations of his extramarital affair severely hampered his re-election chances. House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi called for a
House Ethics Committee investigation concerning the matter. Two days later, CQ Politics changed their forecast on the race from "No Clear Favorite" to "Leans Republican". Mahoney pulled out of attending a debate with his opponent due to the organizers refusing to prohibit television media from covering the event, leaving Rooney as the sole candidate at the debate. Due to his conservative positions on gun rights, Mahoney was endorsed by the
National Rifle Association of America. In light of the scandal, Democratic Pennsylvania State Representative
Timothy S. Mahoney issued a press release explaining that he was not involved in an extramarital affair, due to both politicians' similar names. Mahoney raised over $3 million, and spent $2,756,453 on the race. However, in the November election, Mahoney was soundly defeated by former assistant state Attorney General
Tom Rooney. Mahoney won only 40% of the vote to Rooney's 60%, the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent in the 2008 cycle.
Political positions Mahoney was generally considered to be a moderate Democrat, and he considered himself to be a
conservative Democrat. Mahoney also was a member of the
New Democrat Coalition, a centrist group of Democrats in Congress.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Financial Services •
Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises •
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit •
Committee on Agriculture •
Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture •
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Caucus memberships •
Blue Dog Coalition •
New Democrat Coalition == Electoral history ==