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Republicans on Tuesday won special elections for two US House of Representatives seats in Florida vacated by Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, dashing Democratic hopes for an upset victory in the first federal special elections held since the president began his second term.
But Democratic candidates Josh Weil and Gay Valimont are likely to lose the solidly red districts by much smaller margins than the more than 30 points that Democrats lost the districts by in November.
Weil put up a stiff challenge in the eastern coastal district formerly represented by Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, and Democrats were holding out hope for a surprise victory. Weil, a Democratic public school teacher, had outraised Fine, a state senator, and a poll had shown them running practically neck-and-neck days before the election.
The AP also called a second special election in Florida for Republican Jimmy Patronis, in the seat vacated by Republican Matt Gaetz, who resigned after Trump nominated him for attorney general only to drop out amid reports of sexual misconduct and drug use or possession.
Democrats were not expected to be competitive in the heavily Republican area, but the final result is likely to be much closer Tuesday than it was in November.
Earlier on Tuesday, voter Andrew Julius cast his ballot for Weil in Daytona Beach, Waltz’s former district because he said Weil seemed like a level-headed, educated person. Julius was also concerned about how Trump’s team was handling foreign policy, including the latest privacy concern when Waltz shared war plans on a Signal chat that included a journalist.
“I had a top-secret security clearance with my job in the navy because I was a sonar tech,” he said. “If I would have done just a fraction of a mistake or what was done with this whole Signal-gate fiasco, I would have been court martialed.”
But the majority of voters continued to support the Republican ticket.
At the Church of Christ in Daytona Beach, Fine campaign volunteer “Spock” Hinson wore a shirt with Trump’s mugshot that said Never Surrender. The former Democrat said he supported Trump and his key ally Elon Musk.
“I want him to do what he’s trying to do,” Hinson said of Musk. “Anybody who’s not happy with him is either brainwashed or a crook.”
On social media, Trump, who had endorsed Fine, congratulated him for “a great WIN against a massive CASH AVALANCHE”.
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For congressional Republicans, the election wins help preserve their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, which is in the middle of a complex negotiation with the Senate aimed at enacting legislation authorizing Trump’s campaign promises, including the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, an extension of tax cuts passed during his first term, and an increase in the US government’s debt ceiling.
Before Tuesday’s special elections, the GOP held 218 seats in Congress’s lower chamber and the Democrats 213. But despite their disappointing performance in last November’s presidential election, Democrats appear to be continuing their streak of strong performances in off-year elections nationwide.
Last week, a Democrat won an upset victory in a state senate race in Pennsylvania, and the Trump administration a day later withdrew their nomination of congresswoman Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, a decision widely seen as fueled by concern over creating another vacant House seat.