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(CN) — Two acolytes of President Donald Trump won their Florida congressional seats on Tuesday in a special election that solidifies national Republicans’ hold on the U.S. House.
Republican state Senator Randy Fine beat out Democrat Josh Weil, a math teacher from Orlando, by 8 percentage points, with 73% of the vote counted, according to the Associated Press.
The seat — formerly held by Mike Waltz, who Trump hired as his national security adviser — lies in a heavily Republican district that includes rural parts of Central Florida and the Atlantic Coast.
Fine is known in the state as a bombastic conservative, a fierce defender of Israel and one of the architects of dissolving the Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District after the entertainment giant’s CEO criticized the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay" bill.
Despite close ties with state-level Republicans, Fine was one of the more prominent politicians in the state to endorse Trump over Governor Ron DeSantis in last year’s Republican presidential primary. Trump returned the favor by endorsing him in the district’s primary, held in January.
In the 1st Congressional District that includes most of the state’s panhandle, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis defeated Democrat Gay Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist, by 15 percentage points.
Patronis takes the seat formerly held by Matt Gaetz — who resigned in November after President Donald Trump nominated him for U.S. attorney general, though he withdrew consideration for the nation’s top prosecutor amid accusations of sexual misconduct and drug abuse.
Patronis is a longtime Florida politician, beginning with his election to the state House in 2006 until his appointment by then-Governor Rick Scott to chief financial officer in 2017. His family’s restaurant, Capt. Anderson’s, is a fixture of the Panama City restaurant scene.
The Republican Party of Florida quickly celebrated the wins.
“D.C. Democrats threw everything they had at us, lost more than $10 million betting against the Florida GOP and they lost it all,” said chairman Evan Power in a statement. “The Florida GOP proved once again that Republican dominance in Florida is here to stay.”
The Democrats faced an uphill battle for the two seats against established Republicans in districts that Trump won by more than 65% of the vote in November. Both Gaetz and Waltz sailed to victory in last year’s general election by similar numbers.
The Republican wins come amid what had been cautious optimism about Democrat chances after an infusion of millions of dollars in campaign contributions over the last three months.
Valimont raised more than $6.4 million, compared to Patronis’ $2.1 million in the 1st Congressional District race, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission. In the 6th Congressional District, Weil raised more than $9.4 million, several times more than Fine’s $987,000.
The two races also attracted attention on the national level from the Democratic Party due to Republicans’ slim majority in the U.S. House. Last month, the Democratic National Committee sent funds to the Florida Democratic Party for organizing efforts and poll watchers.
Still, the financial enthusiasm could not change the realities on the ground. The 1st Congressional District has about 200,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. Republicans hold a smaller, but still formidable lead in the 6th Congressional District by 131,000 registered voters.
Voter turnout in the 6th Congressional District topped 32% while 41% of the electorate voted in the 1st Congressional District — far more than January’s primary. which saw only 10%.
With Tuesday’s wins, Republicans now hold a 220-213 majority with two seats in heavily Democratic areas up for grabs in special elections later this year. Last week, Trump pulled his nomination of New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, for ambassador to the United Nations, over concerns of a Democratic victory there.
The Democratic challengers did not immediately release statements after the polls closed.
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