GOP Victory in Florida Special Elections Prompts Mixed Reactions

The Republicans won the contests with narrower margins than their predecessors.

Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) (L) participates in a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) (R) with wife Wendy Fine (C) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 2, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are weighing in after Republicans won a pair of congressional races in Florida but underperformed in the GOP strongholds.

Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine won the special election races on Tuesday night.

Patronis will replace former Rep. Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st congressional district after defeating Democrat Gay Valimont.

Fine will take over former Rep. Mike Waltz in the 6th congressional district, defeating Democrat Josh Weil.

The two GOP wins have boosted the Republican margin in the House to 220–213.

Republicans won after Democrats poured millions of dollars into the two races.

The Republicans, however, won the contests with narrower margins than their predecessors, according to the Associated Press. Fine underperformed Waltz by about 10 percentage points.

Fine told reporters that he doesn’t think he fell short in the race.

“I won, last time we looked, by 14 points,“ he said following his win. ”So, I think it’s hard to say that’s an underperformance.”

Regarding the narrower margin compared with previous elections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the race wasn’t a referendum on President Donald Trump but rather the candidate.

DeSantis suggested that Fine was largely unpopular among Republican voters because he failed to advance his agenda on taxes, gun rights, and fiscal policy. The president had to endorse Fine last-minute in order to bail him out, DeSantis said.

DeSantis noted that Trump won the district in 2024. The governor, who used to hold the congressional seat, noted that he won that district by more than 35 points in 2022.

“What happened with Randy Fine is exactly what I said. He would win, but underperform. And that’s what happened,” DeSantis said at a press conference the next day.

The governor said the Republican base wasn’t excited about its newly elected representative.

In response to DeSantis’s comments, Fine wrote on X: “I’m focused on working with [Trump] to stop Democrats from taking this country backwards, not working with them.”

Fine, who was officially sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson the next day, acknowledged that Trump helped him win.

“Because of you, Mr. President. I won’t let you down,” he wrote on X.

Vice President JD Vance noted that GOP voter turnout remains a challenge for the Republican Party in races in special elections, which typically attract a smaller electorate.

“The political problem on the Republican side of the aisle is how to get our base to vote in off-cycle elections,” Vance wrote in a statement on X. “We’ve seen the establishment (finally) accept Donald Trump’s leadership of the Republican Party. Now it’s time to try to actually learn from his political success.”

Trump, on the other hand, said that the results of the race are a huge victory for the Republican Party.

“Both Florida House seats have been won, big, by the republican candidate. The Trump endorsement, as always, proved far greater than the Democrats forces of evil. Congratulations to America!!!” Trump wrote in capital letters in a post on Truth Social.

Tuesday’s close race has led some Democrats to express optimism for next year’s congressional mid-term elections.

Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), warned that Republicans “should be nervous for 2026” after Weil “massively overperformed” in a deep-red district that Trump won by 30 points.

“Congratulations to Josh Weil for running a strong campaign,” he said in a statement on X. “In 2025, Democrats have overperformed the top of the ticket in nearly every election as voters turn out in blue, purple, and red districts to voice their anger at Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”

Although they lost in Florida on Tuesday night, Democrats highlighted their win in a highly watched race in Wisconsin.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk were crushed in Wisconsin. Keep the pressure on,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a post on X.

The party gained a huge victory after liberal judge Susan Crawford defeated Musk-backed conservative candidate Brad Schimel in the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. Donors to Crawford’s campaign have included billionaires George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and JD Pritzker.

The race has statewide implications because the court can decide election-related laws and settle disputes over future election outcomes.

A Brennan Center for Justice analysis found that the race has cost more than $81 million, with tens of millions spent in support of both sides.

Epoch Times reporter Lawrence Wilson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News