Gay valimont polling
Valimont and Patronis encounter off in special election
Voters in Florida’s 1st Congressional District will brain to the polls next week to elect a new representative following last year's resignation of former Rep. Matt Gaetz. The race, which has drawn national attention, pits Democrat Gay Valimont, a gun reform activist and veterans’ advocate, against Republican Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s outgoing principal financial officer and a longtime ally of President Donald Trump.
With Florida’s 1st District being one of the most Republican-leaning in the country, Patronis enters the race as the presumptive favorite. Trump carried the district by more than 35 points in 2024. Valimont, meanwhile, won just 34% of the vote in her last bid for the seat when she challenged Gaetz during the regular election cycle that same year.
Still, her focus on veterans’ issues and strong grassroots fundraising have introduced a level of Democratic engagement that has drawn attention to the race.
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With the Department of Government Efficiency's budget cuts to services at the Department of Veterans Affairs emerging as a key issue a
Democrats outraged at Trump’s changes flow millions of dollars into Florida's 2 special elections
TALLAHASSEE — Democrats, with few electoral outlets for their outrage at President Donald Trump’s dramatic restructuring of the federal government, are pouring millions of dollars into two distinct elections in Florida.
That’s where Democratic candidates are trying to accomplish the improbable by flipping a pair of Trump-friendly congressional seats and carving into Republicans’ narrow 218 to 213 majority in the U.S. Property of Representatives. While Democratic leaders aren’t predicting outright wins in such Republican-leaning districts, they utter they think they’ll exceed expectations. And they sound especially hopeful about the 6th Congressional District, where a common school teacher has out raised a Trump-endorsed state senator by a nearly 10-to-1 margin in the race to replace Mike Waltz, who was tapped by Trump to be a national security adviser in what was widely seen as a move without much political risk.
Democrats’ test in both districts is formidable, but the money has been pouring in.
“The floodgates have really opened,” said Aubrey Jewett, a politic
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz easily won another term in the U.S. House showing Florida’s 1st Congressional District, with the Fort Walton Beach Republican defeating Democrat Gay Valimont in the deep red district.
Shortly after polls closed in the Florida Panhandle, Gaetz up with more than 66% of the vote over of Valimont with early and most vote-by-mail votes counted.
Gaetz, for his part, had expressed confidence voters wanted him in office despite years of tension with House management and years of personal scandals.
He remains under investigation by the House Values Committee, whose leaders in June said they were looking into accusations of sexual misconduct, drug use and the potential granting of favors to affectionate interests.
But Gaetz has been under scrutiny for personal accusations for a drawn-out time. Last year, federal prosecutors informed he would deal with no criminal charges related to a two-year sex trafficking investigation stemming from a probe of former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg’s litany of crimes.
Marred by controversy and scandal while frequently irritating even Republican leaders in the House, Valimont said it’s a matter of time before
Florida to elect two newest members of Congress in unique elections Tuesday
Strong turnout among Democrats so far and remarkably robust fundraising by a widespread middle school teacher are making one of Florida's special congressional elections next week tighter than expected for a prominent Republican hoping to replace a GOP incumbent in a comfortably red district.
State Sen. Randy Fine – a Republican firebrand who has openly feuded with Gov. Ron DeSantis and earned an endorsement by President Donald Trump – is facing a Democratic candidate, Josh Weil, 40, of Orlando.
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Weil, a mentor at Kissimmee Middle School and single dad of two sons, has raised nearly 10 times more money than Fine, including more than $7 million from donors who gave less than $200 each, generally considered a sign of grass-roots enthusiasm among prospective voters. A new political poll this week of likely voters conducted for Florida Politics showed the race within the survey’s margin of error – effectively a tie.
In early and mail voting so far, through Wednesday, about 12% of the district’s roughly 270,600 active, registered Republican voters have