Republican candidates won both special House elections in Florida on Tuesday night, expanding the party’s slim majority in the lower chamber.
According to The New York Times, Republican Jimmy Patronis is projected to defeat Democrat Gay Valimont in the Sunshine State’s 1st Congressional District. Located in the Florida Panhandle, the district’s residents overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
The seat was left open following the resignation of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who stepped down after being nominated by Trump to serve as attorney general. Gaetz ultimately withdrew his nomination to the position after facing resistance from several GOP senators reportedly opposed to his confirmation.
The GOP is also projected to win the race for the House seat vacated by Mike Waltz, who resigned to serve as Trump’s national security advisor. With more than 95 percent of votes tabulated as of publication, Republican state Sen. Randy Fine is projected to defeat Democrat Josh Weil in the battle for Florida’s 6th Congressional District.
Fine’s seemingly lackluster candidacy and Weil’s significant fundraising advantage prompted reported concerns within conservative circles ahead of Tuesday’s race that the election in CD-6 could be closer than originally anticipated.
While preliminary results show Fine winning the seat by 14 points, the margin is significantly smaller than those put up by Trump and Waltz during the 2024 election. According to The Hill, the latter two Republicans won their respective races in the district by more than 30 points.
Fine was notably one of several Florida GOP lawmakers who fought efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis to adopt laws assisting the Trump administration’s deportation operations earlier this year. The soon-to-be former state senator instead sided with the state’s GOP legislative leadership’s proposal, which included significantly weaker provisions than those requested by the governor.
After a weeks-long back and forth, DeSantis and the legislature struck an agreement that contained many of the proposals the governor initially asked for. DeSantis signed the measures into law in February.
Both Fine and Patronis will now join Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill and help expand the GOP’s slim House majority. Not including Tuesday’s Republican victories, the party’s House majority currently stands at 218-213, with two additional vacancies resulting from the deaths of two House Democrats last month.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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