Republicans won every major statewide race in Florida on Tuesday, but only by slim margins. Down the ballot, Democrats broke the GOP's supermajorities in the Legislature and kept every congressional seat Republicans tried to take.
Byron Donalds, a Trump-endorsed congressman who represents southwest Florida's 19th District, beat Democrat David Jolly for governor by just over 1 percentage point. He becomes the first Black governor elected in Florida and the first Black Republican governor in the country.
Mr. President, I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red!
Byron Donalds, Florida governor-elect
Sen. Ashley Moody, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the seat Marco Rubio gave up to become secretary of state, defeated Democrat Angie Nixon by under 3 points. Republicans also kept three cabinet posts in races that were similarly tight.
Money favored the winners. Both Republicans raised far more than their challengers, and Moody outspent Nixon by more than 2 to 1.
Republicans still control both chambers of the Legislature, but they no longer hold supermajorities in either one, said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett. That gives Democrats more say in how bills are written and passed, though Jewett noted that Republicans remain in charge.
Democrats also held four congressional districts that DeSantis and Republican lawmakers had redrawn this spring to tilt toward the GOP. One belongs to Rep. Darren Soto, whose Hispanic-majority district in central Florida was stretched to take in conservative areas reaching south to Lake Okeechobee.
Susannah Randolph, who leads the Sierra Club's Florida chapter, said voters saw through the redistricting plan. She said the results suggest Florida, which backed the winning presidential candidate six straight times from 1996 to 2016, could become a swing state again. Nixon and Jolly came close despite being heavily outspent and facing a registration gap of 1.5 million voters, she said.
Nixon, a Jacksonville organizer and bookstore owner, ran as a democratic socialist and campaigned for universal health care. She carried Miami-Dade County, and Jacksonville, usually Republican territory, shifted toward her.
Since winning the August primary, Nixon has said national Democrats were unwilling to fund her. She said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told her only that he would look into her race. She also argued that donors were wary of backing Black women in the South after Kamala Harris lost in 2024.
The Wesleyan Media Project found that in the race's final weeks, the national party and allied PACs spent $10 on advertising in Iowa for every $1 they spent in Florida. Iowa voters elected a Democratic governor and a Democratic senator.
Jewett said Republicans could move toward the center on climate change and similar issues after Democrats' gains in the state, but he called that unlikely.
