On Tuesday night, Republicans easily pulled off another victory with Jimmy Patronis' win for Florida's 1st Congressional District. Although Democrats had hoped to pull off a win, just as they did with the special election in the state's 6th Congressional District, Decision Desk HQ called the race for Patronis at 8:01pm, right when the polls closed.
Decision Desk HQ projects Republican Jimmy Patronis wins the US House special election in Florida's 1st congressional district.#DecisionMade: 8:01 PM EDT
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) April 2, 2025
Results: https://t.co/S7jEc5gMWS pic.twitter.com/dNu2zMpwk5
Patronis is replacing former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fellow Republican who resigned last November, shortly after he was nominated to serve as President Donald Trump's attorney general. Gaetz ended up withdrawing his name from consideration, but did not return to the House.
According to The Cook Partisan Voting Index, from the Cook Political Report, Florida's 1st Congressional District for 2023 was at R+19, making it the most Republican district in the state, which has 28 congressional districts. It's also one of the most Republican district in the countries. Even with all of the fundraising that Democrats did, at the state and national level, Democrat Gay Valimont didn't have much of a chance up against Patronis, who enjoyed Trump's endorsement, among others.
Gaetz handily beat beat Valimont last November, doing so by 32 points. Florida's 1st Congressional District also delivered Trump one of his biggest wins in Florida, a state he's won for the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential races. Last November, the president won the district by 37 percentage points.
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With just 13 percent of the vote in, Patronis currently enjoys 56.3 percent of the vote to Valimont's 42.8 percent. Patronis is expected to ultimately win by a much larger margin.
Patronis' win is the second Republican win of the night, with state Sen. Randy Fine having won the special election in Florida's 6th Congressional District to replace now former Rep. Mike Waltz, who resigned on January 20 to serve as Trump's national security advisor.
Polls are open until 9 pm ET in Wisconsin, where voters will select a state Supreme Court justice, as well as consider a state ballot initiative for requiring voter ID.
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