Florida Democrats flip two seats in special legislative elections

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: Florida Phoenix

In the only state Senate election on the ballot, Democrat Brian Nathan, a Navy veteran, union organizer, and first-time candidate, shocked Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow in the Hillsborough County Senate District 14 contest, winning by just 408 votes, taking 50.25% of the vote to Tomkow 49.75%.

Tomkow said she will run again for the seat in November.

The seat has been vacant since August, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed GOP incumbent Jay Collins to serve as his lieutenant governor.

Tomkow had a huge fundraising lead over Nathan and was a heavy favorite in a district that Collins won by 10 points in 2022, the last time the seat was on the ballot. Donald Trump won it by more than 7 points in 2024.

Read more: https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/24/florida-democrats-flip-two-seats-in-special-legislative-elections/

---

The other win was by Emily Gregory in the House, covered elsewhere. If it's not clear, Tomkow has conceded: https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2026/03/23/special-election-arrives-in-key-state-senate-distict-14-race

[markodochartaigh]

1. Hopefully, in the circumstance that the Democratic party wrests

control from the Republicans, voters will understand that it will take years to get out of the hole that Republicans have spent more than a decade getting the state into.

[Skittles]

2. yup

Dems have to make the hard choices to clean up repuke mess, then voters penalize them by voting repukes back in - and they get to hit the ground running.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. MaddowBlog-Special elections in Florida, including Mar-a-Lago's district, spell trouble for GOP

The more Democrats win closely watched races and flip seats from red to blue, the more Republicans should be concerned about the 2026 midterms.

The fact that Dems flipped the Mar-a-Lago district is amazing, the broader pattern is even more important:

The more Democrats win closely watched races, and flip seats from red to blue, the more Republicans should be terrified about the 2026 midterms.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-25T12:45:12.698Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/special-elections-in-florida-including-mar-a-lagos-district-spell-trouble-for-gop

Heading into Tuesday’s state legislative special election in Florida, Republicans had reason to be cautiously optimistic. The race was in a Palm Beach district that Donald Trump won by 11 points in 2024 (it’s the same district where Mar-a-Lago is located), and only about a third of local voters are registered Democrats.

And yet, the contest turned into the latest in a series of red-to-blue flips. MS NOW reported:

Democrats flipped a Republican-held seat in the Florida state House, with Emily Gregory winning a closely watched special election Tuesday night in a district that includes President Donald Trump’s home of Mar-a-Lago, according to The Associated Press.

Gregory beat Trump-endorsed Republican Jon Maples in the 87th District, which includes Palm Beach. With almost all votes counted, Gregory narrowly led by 2.4 percentage points, or 797 votes, according to the AP.

The president may try to downplay the results, but it was earlier this week when Trump not only voted for the Republican candidate but also described the contest as “a very important Special Election” while endorsing the GOP nominee.....

The Downballot noted in its latest analysis that if the vote tallies in the Tampa area hold, Democrats will have flipped 30 seats from red to blue in special elections since Trump returned to the White House. Over that same period, the number of seats flipped from blue to red remains zero.

Some will no doubt argue that it’s best not to read too much into a special election held in the winter, several months before November’s races. It’s a fair point. But what matters is how the results fit into the broader political landscape. Republicans are tied to an unpopular president, a growing number of their congressional members are retiring, key elements of the GOP agenda are facing an intensifying public backlash, and they keep losing special elections, including in contests they expected to win.

If party insiders aren’t concerned about their standing ahead of this year’s midterm elections, they’re not paying close enough attention.