Both special elections in Florida for vacant seats in the US House of Representatives went the Republicans’ way on Tuesday, 1 April. Jimmy Patronis won in the First Congressional District by 14.6 points against Democrat Gay Valimont. Meanwhile, Randy Fine defeated Josh Weil in the Sixth Congressional District by 14 points.
While both margins of victory are substantial for the GOP, they are significantly lower than in the 2024 House election. Then, Matt Gaetz won in the First District by 32.1 points; and Michael Waltz won 33.1 points in the Sixth.
Gaetz resigned in anticipation of being nominated as Attorney General in November 2024. He eventually did not get the nomination. Some people speculated that he was so hasty in his resignation to evade the release of a House Ethics Report about his alleged sexual misconduct—which was eventually released anyway. Michael Waltz has been appointed and is now serving as President Trump’s National Security Advisor.
With these two results, Republicans now hold 220 seats in the House, against the Democrats’ 215.
Liberal Susan Crawford Wins Supreme Court Race in Wisconsin
Florida used to be considered as a quintessential swing state, but it seems that it is in safe Republican hands by now. So, let’s take a look at what is a very important swing state today, Wisconsin, with 10 electoral votes.
There, Republicans had an opportunity to turn the State Supreme Court conservative.
Liberal Ann Walsh Bradley announced her retirement from the seven-person bench last year. Thus, the court was evenly split between three conservative and three liberal justices—this election determined the majority.
Susan Crawford had the backing of the Wisconsin Democratic Party; while former Republican State Attorney General Brad Schimel ran on the conservative side. Crawford ended up winning comfortably, with a 10-point margin.
However, there was a silver lining for Republicans last night. A ballot initiative adding an amendment to the State Constitution that mandates photo ID for elections has been passed.
This is the second time a referendum has passed in the Badger State that calls for stricter election integrity measures.
In April 2024 two ballot initiatives proposed by the State House GOP and endorsed by President Trump also got the majority of the vote. One prohibited out-of-state donations for election initiatives, and the other mandated that ‘only election officials designated by law’ can be involved in the administration of the electoral process. Both have been added to the Wisconsin State Constitution.
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