Florida Republican Fine Wins Special House Election, GOP Maintains Slim House Majority

State Senator Randy Fine (R-FL) has defeated Democrat Josh Weil in the Congressional District 6 special election in a narrow special election.  Thirty minutes after polls closed, Fine held a commanding eight-point lead. Early on, after polls closed, Weil controlled two counties (St. Johns and Volusia), but they eventually flipped back red for a GOP sweep, county-wise.

State Sen. Fine received prominent endorsements from President Donald Trump (R) and gubernatorial candidate and Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL).

The seat to represent CD-6 was held previously by Mike Waltz (R-FL), who resigned from the U.S. Congress to become President Trump's National Security Advisor. The district is approximately 2-to-1 in favor of Republicans, but early vote turnout only favored Republicans by nine points.

Republicans were worried that this race would be a steal opportunity for Democrats to shrink the already-thin majority in the House of Representatives, but the GOP has held firm in a prominently Republican district.

During the 2024 election, early vote turnout was +29 in favor of Republicans. However, Early voting showed that Republicans had only a nine-point advantage over Democrats.

The nine-point cushion might've sounded somewhat comforting to Republicans. However, with the GOP already leading voter registration by more than 20 points in the congressional district, one can logically conclude that Republicans simply did not turn out.

Democrats needed to rely on a lot of Republicans, non-party affiliates, and members of third parties to break for Weil. It appears that a lot of voters did break for Weil, but it wasn't enough to pull off the upset.

Rep. Donalds released the following message regarding Representative-elect Fine's necessary victory for the Grand Old Party.

"Congratulations Randy Fine on winning election to Florida’s 6th Congressional District. Thank you to the thousands of Floridians who showed-up for our nation during this Special Election. This is a huge win for America, saves our House Majority, & helps us to pass the Trump Agenda," said Rep. Donalds.

Fine will hold the seat but will have to defend it in November of 2026.