There were three special elections and one important ballot measure vote held last night. Here are the results.
Starting in Florida with the election in Congressional district one – Matt Gaetz old seat. Trump backed Republican Jimmy Patronis, the sitting FLorida CFO, faced off against Democrat Gay Valimont. Patronis won handily, getting nearly 57% of the vote.
Patronis underperformed Gaetz by 9 points and Trump by 11. Whether this is because of the usual off year/special election disinterest, the amount of money dropped on Valmont – the Valmont campaign outraised Patronis by a 3 to 1 margin – or a dislike of Patronis is hard to say.
In Florida 6, Repub Randy Fine – a sitting state senator – faced off against Democrat opponent, Josh Weil. Fine won 56-42.
Fine, like Patronis, underperformed compared to the November elections. Trump won the district with 64.5% and Waltz with 66.5. The same questions about the results apply here, with one caveat; Fine has been credibly accused of being a RINO.
In Wisconsin, a special election was held for a State Supreme court justice. This pitted Musk and Trump backed Brad Shimel against Dem Susan Crawford. Crawford won 55-45%.
This race was the most expensive court race in US History with around $100 million spent. This R loss means the Wisconsin Supreme court will continue to lean left for the foreseable future.
It was not all bad news out of the Badger state however. Ballot question 1 passed by an overwhelming – 62.8 to 37.2% – margin. Question one amended the Wisconsin constitution permanently enshrining the state’s 2011 law requiring voters to provide photo identification in order to vote. This is a big step in securing elections in Wisconsin.