How do you feel about the mixed results out of the Florida* special election for Congress?
Democrats were able to close the 30 points that Donald Trump won by in that district last November.
However the Democrats had to spend 12 times what their opponent spent on the election and still lost.
Florida Republican defeats Democrat in US House special election
Republican State Senator Randy Fine has defeated Democrat Josh Weil in a closely watched special Florida congressional election to fill the seat held by National Security Advispoor Michael Waltz.
The result dashes Democratic hopes of pulling what would have been a stunning upset in a district that Donald Trump carried by 30 points in last November’s presidential election. The narrow margin of Fine’s victory on Tuesday, however, is likely to leave Republicans uneasy about their prospects in next year’s national mid-term congressional elections.
Democrat Weil, a strong Gaza supporter who clashed with Fine’s anti-Palestinian stance, made waves by raising more than $12m in campaign donations, compared to the approximately $1m brought in by his opponent. That disparity, along with polls that showed a contest within the margin of error, had put this congressional race in the national spotlight.
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The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written.
How do you feel about the mixed results out of the Federal special election for Congress?
Democrats were able to close the 30 points that Donald Trump won by in that district last November.
However the Democrats had to spend 9 times what their opponent spent on the election and still lost.
>Florida Republican defeats Democrat in US House special election
>Republican State Senator Randy Fine has defeated Democrat Josh Weil in a closely watched special Florida congressional election to fill the seat held by National Security Advispoor Michael Waltz.
>The result dashes Democratic hopes of pulling what would have been a stunning upset in a district that Donald Trump carried by 30 points in last November’s presidential election. The narrow margin of Fine’s victory on Tuesday, however, is likely to leave Republicans uneasy about their prospects in next year’s national mid-term congressional elections.
>Democrat Weil, a strong Gaza supporter who clashed with Fine’s anti-Palestinian stance, made waves by raising more than $12m in campaign donations, compared to the approximately $1m brought in by his opponent. That disparity, along with polls that showed a contest within the margin of error, had put this congressional race in the national spotlight.
>https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20kzrlnjgo
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although they closed the gaps, it’s difficult to compare a special election to a general election because it’s not talked about NEARLY as much, therefore less people know about it. the best comparison will be 2026 to 2024
personally i wouldn’t put to much focus into this, and 2026, but that’s just me
We’re talking special elections in the reddest parts of a red state. It says something that Republicans had to sweat this for even a moment, but come 2026, these districts aren’t going to be magically competitive. The good media cycle is nice to see.
Elpn musk could put 55 billion into beating AOC and he would be unsuccessful. There are some races that just cannot be won
Honestly, F-1 was more impressive. Way less attention on that race, with the same dem candidate in November, and better rep candidate, and yet it’s almost the same margin as F-6. They even managed to win Escambia, which was Trump +22 in November
I feel fantastic. We fucking did amazing in deep red districts and wiped the floor in Wisconsin. And Weil was seemingly rather progressive further showcasing that “moderation” is just purely about vibes and we can have progressive policy with moderate vibes and do incredibly well.
I feel good. any type of win is important for developing/maintaining momentum. sometimes that’s an outright win, like in WI, sometimes the win is just a sign of a marginal change of movement in a different direction. I don’t necessarily read too much into the results in the sense that I don’t necessarily consider them a dramatic referendum, but I think it’s good to celebrate all Ws. (that said, I think that if the R candidates had handily won I would have felt a LOT worse.)
Josh Weil lost by a much narrower margin than the district usually leans. He did what he set out to do.
Conservatives suffered tons of losses like this back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. They had tons of failed candidates at every level. But they didn’t just pout and they definitely didn’t compromise their principles. They kept trying and eventually Ronald Reagan got elected.
I feel pretty great about it.
I feel good that Musk wasn’t able to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Florida is Florida. We haven’t learned our lesson after 20+ years of GOP rule but that day is coming.
Reducing the margin of victory from 30 points to 14 in one of the deepest red districts is not by any stretch a “mixed result”.
I don’t know that losing a 30 point district should be taken as a worrying sign regardless of how much we spent on it. At worst that might just mean the Democratic party isn’t very good at deciding where to spend money.
Florida is a sign that we don’t give up even if it seems hopeless. We don’t win with a bang but by a thousand cuts. If we simply roll over and take our supporters for granted, we will become the party of irrelevance.
It’s interesting but Florida districts like those will not flip in 2026 so I hope that the Democrats don’t spend a lot of money trying to flip a district in North Florida for crying out loud that is not gonna happen and a waste of resources it was nice to see the margins shrink probably due to less voter turnout… But in 2026 they need to focus hard on the areas that have genuine possibility of being flipped… we have to get Control back of at the very least one of the houses of Congress but really need both to put a stop to the crazy orange man