Democrats in Florida are hoping to capitalize on the social gathering’s latest special election overperformances and are available out on prime Tuesday in a special state House election for a Palm Beach district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
It’s a chance for Democrats in the ruby-red Sunshine State to notch a win in a state the place the social gathering is usually wanting them. If they win Tuesday night time, Mar-a-Lago can be represented by a trio of Democrats throughout the Florida state House, Senate and US House.
Official results from Tuesday’s special election
Democrat Emily Gregory, a enterprise proprietor and army partner operating for workplace for the primary time, will face off in opposition to Republican Jon Maples, a former council-member of close by Lake Shores who first received Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement” in January.
“Jon is a very successful Businessman and Civic Leader, who is known and loved,” Trump stated in another post on Monday reiterating his endorsement of Maples. “Jon will be a terrific Legislator!”
Some voters in Palm Beach on Tuesday who voted for Maples didn’t know concerning the endorsement. To some, it made little distinction, however one Republican voter, Michelle Hall, advised CNN that Trump’s endorsement was “fabulous.”
“Anything Donald does, I do,” Hall stated.
It additionally got here as a shock to some voters that Trump voted by mail in Tuesday’s special election at the same time as he has decried mail-in voting and sought to sharply restrict it with the Republican-backed SAVE America Act, which might finish the widespread observe of no-excuse mail-in voting.
“Are you kidding me? I had no idea,” Hall stated in response a query about it, saying voting by mail “is terrible unless you have a disability, you’re pregnant, you’re in the hospital, you’re military.”
She added, “If he’s against something, why are you doing it?”
Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, stated in a assertion that Trump’s voter ID invoice “has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel.”
“As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, DC,” she stated. “This is a non-story.”
State House District 87 has been vacant since August of final yr, when former Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso, who received reelection in 2024 by 19 share factors, left the seat to change into the Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller. Trump received the district by 11 factors through the 2024 presidential election.
Although the shadow of the president looms massive in his residence district, each Gregory and Maples have largely targeted on the problem of affordability, a topic that proved to be profitable for Democrats in 2025 elections and one that Republicans have struggled to own throughout Trump’s second time period.
Gregory, in an interview with CNN on Monday, stated she was “good about blocking out the noise” about Trump through the marketing campaign, saying she was staying targeted on the greater than 180,000 residents in her district.
CNN additionally reached out to Maples’ marketing campaign for an interview however has not heard again.
Special elections usually function low turnout, inserting an particularly excessive emphasis on voter enthusiasm that can swing outcomes extra successfully than in bigger elections.
But a win by Gregory can be only one extra feather in Democrats’ caps after final yr, once they flipped greater than 20 state legislative seats in special or commonly scheduled elections.
Since the beginning of this yr, Democrats have flipped seats in Arkansas, New Hampshire and Texas, the place they won a state Senate district that had voted for Trump by 17 factors in 2024.
This story has been up to date with further info.
