Republicans Pick Foley's Replacement

Joe Negron

Mark Foley gave up his South Florida Congressional seat last week after it emerged that he'd sent inappropriate emails to teenaged Congressional pages.

At a special meeting in Orlando, the state Republican Party chose Joe Negron to step in and run against Democrat Tim Mahoney in the November election.

Negron immediately tried to take the focus away from former Congressman Foley.

NEGRON: Mark Foley is not an issue in this election. Everyone agrees that what Mark Foley did was indefensible and reprehensible.

But with the election just five weeks away, it's too late to re-print the ballots, so Foley's name will still appear as the Republican candidate.

Negron says his main challenge will be to let voters know that a vote for Foley is actually a vote for him.