Timothy Edward Mahoney (born August 16, 1956) is an American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 16th congressional district from 2007 to 2009.

A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected in November 2006 after his opponent, six-term Republican incumbent Mark Foley, resigned on September 29, 2006, after questions were raised about an email exchange with a congressional page.

After Foley was forced to resign due to a scandal involving him sending sexual messages to a congressional page, the race became more competitive, and Mahoney narrowly beat the replacement nominee, state representative Joe Negron, in the November election, with 49.55% of the vote.

In October 2008, media outlets began reporting allegations that Mahoney paid hush money to a mistress to conceal an extramarital affair.

[5] In 1995, Mahoney and his business partner, Lenny Sokolow, started Union Atlantic, LLC, a venture capital firm.

[5][7] After purchasing the website, Mahoney served as chairman and chief operating officer of vFinance, Inc., which he expanded into a venture capital and financial services firm located in Boca Raton.

[7] Sokolow replaced Mahoney as chairman and COO in 2007, and vFinance eventually merged with National Holdings Corporation.

[17][18][19][20] 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.

[11] Mahoney stated that there was a need to reduce abortions without fully banning them, and also said that he favored repealing the estate tax and opposed further gun restriction laws.

[6][25][26] 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.

[15] In August, Mahoney was endorsed by General Wesley Clark, a former candidate for president of the United States in the 2004 election.

[27][12] Mahoney also filed a lawsuit against the Foley campaign for what he called "misleading" television advertisements about his business career.

[15] After the scandal became public, Mahoney starting campaigning on a platform to restore integrity and dignity to the seat and reduce corruption in Washington.

[12][34] Congressional Quarterly (CQ) shifted the race from safe Republican to tossup, and eventually to favoring Mahoney.

Rooney defeated State Representative Gayle Harrell and former Palm Beach Gardens councilman Hal Valeche in the Republican primary.

[54][52] Mahoney said he requested an ethics investigation as well, stating that the allegations were "based on hearsay" but his constituents "need a full accounting".

[50][53][57] Due to his conservative positions on gun rights, Mahoney was endorsed by the National Rifle Association of America.

[58] 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.

[61] However, in the November election, Mahoney was soundly defeated by former assistant state Attorney General Tom Rooney.

[66] Mahoney hinted at a potential run for his former seat in the 2010 elections against Tom Rooney, stating that he was "seriously thinking about doing it" and that he "learned a lot of lessons".

[72] Mahoney also is owner and founder of Caribou, LLC, an advisory firm which he founded in 2009, and has served on the board of directors of Agrify, a developer of growing solutions for indoor cannabis & hemp cultivation, since December 17, 2020.

[78] On September 18, 2008, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call ran an article questioning Mahoney's residency status.

[citation needed] On October 13, 2008, ABC News reported that Mahoney had agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him.

"[83][84] The FBI investigated whether Mahoney hired the first mistress and put her on the federal payroll in order for her to keep their affair secret.