It must have felt like deja vu for Democratic State Senator Maria Sachs last night.
"How sweet it is!" Sachs shouted to a crowd of her supporters at the Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach.
Sachs held her lead over former Republican State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff in the hotly contested race for Senate District 34, which straddles the eastern parts of Palm Beach and Broward Counties.
Sachs and Bogdanoff had a similar face-off in 2012, after redrawn districts had the two incumbents vying for the same seat.
During last night's victory speech, Sachs told her supporters that Bogdanoff threw a lot of money behind her efforts to unseat her.
"Democrats here do not go down to the level that my opponent did. In the negative, false ads and the nastiness and the personal attacks," said Sachs. "And I want everyone to know that we Democrats here in Palm Beach County -- and the Democrats in Broward County -- we brought that level of discourse up. Because we win without having to stoop to that."
The District 34 Senate Seat would have a been a big win for the Republican Party.
If Ellyn Bogdanoff had succeeded in unseating Sachs, she would have given Republicans a super-majority in the Florida Senate. That means Republicans would have been able to override a governor’s veto and control more of the legislative agenda.
To voters, Bogdanoff presented herself as an independent thinker who supports gay marriage and criminal-justice reform.
"You know you do your best and at the end of the day voters -- whoever shows up to the polls are the ones that make the decision, so you respect their decision and you move on," she said.
Last night, Bogdanoff conceded the race with 99 percent of the precincts reporting.
At her election-watch gathering at Taps Restaurant and Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, she said she didn’t plan to run for office again.
"It’s time to go on to Plan B," she said. "Working, taking care of my kids and my grand-babies."
Bogdanoff added she was an advocate before she ran for office and she will continue to advocate and fight for issues like education reform.
