Republicans held onto a House seat in Florida in a special election in Florida on Tuesday evening after a closer-than-expected contest, allowing for Republicans to keep their narrow majority.
Randy Fine, a right-wing senator in the state legislature, won a special election to replace National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, who resigned the seat. Fine defeated Josh Weil, a Democrat who received a tidal wave of outside support from Democrats who hoped to turn the race into a referendum on President Donald Trump.
But the race turned out to be much closer than expected in a district that voted for Trump by 30 points and that had previously elected Ron DeSantis when he served in Congress. DeSantis and Fine had consistently clashed during the former’s run for president.
Fine, who is Jewish and an ardent supporter of Israel, has also garnered controversy, such as when he said that Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom are Muslim, “might consider leaving” before he arrived in Congress.
Trump had vocally backed Fine’s campaign, as did Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, who poured money via his political action committee called America PAC.
Democrats for their part poured resources into the races after the race became unexpectedly close, with Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsing Weil. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin campaigning in the state.
In recent years Florida shifted from being a perennial swing state to solidly Republican, buoyed by Trump adopting the home and migration from people fleeing Democratic states like New York.
Fine’s underperformance shows that dissatisfaction with Trump might be growing. Wednesday will begin his proposed “Liberation Day” tariffs and many have voters have voiced their disapproval of the way Musk’s DOGE has targeted numerous agencies.
The same evening, Democrats in Wisconsin sought to hold onto a seat on the state’s supreme court as Susan Crawford ran against former Republican attorney general Brad Schimel. Musk had visited Wisconsin and held a rally over the weekend.
Fine’s victory will certainly give House Republicans a sigh of relief. The same evening, Republican Jimmy Patronis easily won the seat in Florida’s first district vacated by former congressman Matt Gaetz. Gaetz resigned his seat when Trump nominated him to be attorney general, though Gaetz ultimately withdrew his nomination.
The wins in Florida increase the GOP’s margin in the House to 220 compared to the Democrats’ 213 after two Democratic members of Congress died.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has had to keep a close eye on the margins as Republicans can only afford to lose a handful of members on any given vote. Last week, Trump had to rescind the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to be US ambassador to the United Nations to prevent Democrats from flipping the seat.
Republicans saw the effects of the tight margins on Tuesday when a handful of Republicans joined every Democrat to defeat a rule to begin debate on crucial parts of Trump’s policy agenda. Johnson and House GOP leadership Republicans had inserted language to kill a discharge petition by Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Flordia to allow new mothers to vote in the House by proxy.
Republicans and Trump hope to pass Trump’s proposed “one big, beautiful bill” that would include extending the 2017 tax cuts he signed as well as ramping up spending for defense, security the US-Mexico border and energy exploration.
The race is the first major test for Democrats and Republicans for the second Trump presidency. Later this year, Virginia will have its governor’s race. Democrats hope to make Musk’s slashing of federal jobs of constituents in Virginia a major sticking point.
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