‘They had to call Daddy’: Florida Democrats find positives in Tuesday’s special election losses

What can Florida Democrats take out of Tuesday night’s special congressional elections?

They lost two races that most everyone always expected them to lose. But cutting the margins of defeat in half from elections held just four months ago is giving them hope for 2026.

“These races should have never been competitive, but we outworked them,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a Zoom call Wednesday afternoon, referring to the candidacies of Democratic candidates Gay Valimont in Congressional District 1 and Josh Weil in Congressional District 6.

“We outraised them and we slashed their margins by more than half,” Fried added. “And they panicked. They had to call Daddy [Donald Trump], hosting emergency town halls, slashing last-minute cash and even sacrificing [New York U.S. Rep. Elise] Stefanik’s nomination [as U.N. ambassador] to protect their very slim majority.”

In CD1 in the Panhandle, former state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis defeated Valimont by 15 percentage points, 57%-42%. In Northeast Florida’s CD6, former GOP state Sen. Randy Fine defeated Weil by 14 percentage points, 57%-43%.

Democrats spent far more money in both races despite the fact that the districts rank among the most Republican in the state — Trump won both districts by more than 30 percentage points last November. Nevertheless, Weil’s 14-point loss to Fine was 18 points closer than Democrat James David Stockton got in losing to then-Republican incumbent Mike Waltz in the same district just five months ago.

Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power dismissed the Democrats’ spin, saying, “We took everything that the Democrats had and we gave it back, and we won by double-digits.”

“We won big in record numbers in Florida last time, and getting people to turn out to vote right after they delivered a big victory is always hard,” Power told Newsmax.

“Special elections in Florida have always been close. This wasn’t close, even though they spent millions and millions of dollars. The Florida GOP, our grassroots teams made 400,000 calls, knocked on thousands of doors, and I think that everyone was united to the fact that they wanted to send a message that President Trump needed Floridians to go support him in Washington, D.C., and they sent two great ones in Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine.”

Fried disagreed, saying that the Florida outcome “is a warning sign for Republicans in Florida and around the country, and it should send shivers to the spine of any Republican, in an R-plus-15 seat or below. There are no more safe seats in Florida.”

‘He repels people’

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saw the closer margin of victory for Fine on Tuesday was a reflection of his weakness as a candidate and not a referendum on the president’s first two months in office.

During an appearance in Ocala Wednesday morning, the governor bashed Fine as a “squish” for supporting the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act and for opposing his proposal on illegal immigration earlier this year (as did the majority of the GOP-controlled Legislature initially but they later approved a watered-down bill).

“So when people see that, our base voters don’t get excited about that,” DeSantis said.

“You’re not giving them a reason to go out and vote. And also the way that he conducts himself, he repels people. He repels people in the Legislature. They wanted to get him out of the Legislature so they asked me to put him up for Florida Atlantic [University] president. I did, and the whole board would have resigned rather than make him president,” he continued.

“So, it was unique problems with this candidate that was causing it to be a close race, and I think it was trending to be a lot closer. Then what happened was they put a lot of money in a Trump plus-30 seat. They shouldn’t have had to do, but they did. And then the president did a couple of tele-town halls where he said, ‘Listen, for my agenda, I need you to go out and vote.’”

Fine responded via X, writing, “A dying star burns hottest before it fades into oblivion. I’m focused on working with @realDonaldTrump to stop Democrats from taking this country backwards, not working with them. Let’s go.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin promised that the resources the party brought to the Florida races will continue into next year’s midterms.

“You’re going to continue to witness a level of aggressive investment in organizing from this DNC that’s unlike anything that we’ve done before,” he said on the Zoom call, organized by the DNC. “Last night’s special elections in Florida show Trump, Musk, and Republicans that they’re in trouble even in the reddest districts.”

Worthy investment?

The fact that Democrats spent so much money (Weil raised more than $10 million and Valimont more than $6 million) was mocked by Republicans but was controversial with some Florida Democrats, too, who questioned whether it was a worthy investment.

“There’s easily been 2x as much money donated in these races as donated to the FL Dem Party for voter reg since Obama12,” Tallahassee Democratic strategist Steve Schale wrote on X Tuesday night. “Until people get excited about funding infrastructure, it’s going to be a long road back.”

Fried maintained that the money made a difference, even though her party came up short in both races.

“I heard Republicans say, ‘Well, it was a waste of money. They spent $20 million on these races and we still won.’ But they don’t understand this, these races, came down to the wire because we invested in them,” she said Wednesday.

“Put money into a strong ground game and organized in red counties like never before. Investment on the ground matters. Money spent in specials was largely on the ground, not TV,” she continued.

“So, don’t tell me Florida is too expensive. We have proven that we can raise the money and spend it wisely. … We put a down payment on our future, and we’re going to make Republicans pay for it in the long run.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.