Republican State Senator Randy Fine has defeated Democrat Josh Weil in a closely watched special Florida congressional election to fill the seat held by National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, BBC reported.
The result dashes Democratic hopes of pulling what would have been a stunning upset in a district that Donald Trump carried by 30 points in last November's presidential election.
The narrow margin of Fine's victory on Tuesday, however, is likely to leave Republicans uneasy about their prospects in next year's national mid-term congressional elections. Waltz won the seat by more than 30 points in November.
Democrat Weil, a strong Gaza supporter who clashed with Fine's anti-Palestinian stance, made waves by raising more than $12m in campaign donations, compared to the approximately $1m brought in by his opponent. That disparity, along with polls that showed a contest within the margin of error, had put this congressional race in the national spotlight.
It also prompted a last-minute influx of national Republican support that included telephone town halls by Trump and other prominent conservatives. Those efforts appear to have paid off, as Republican turnout climbed in the final days of early voting and in-person ballots cast by Republicans exceeded party expectations on election day.
At a polling location in the Valdosta Public Library in Daytona Beach, a steady stream of voters clad in American flag hats and Trump paraphernalia served as a vivid illustration of a last-minute surge of conservative support for Fine.
The Republican prevailed in the other Florida special election, to fill the seat vacated by firebrand conservative Congressman Matt Gaetz.
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