Democrat Darren Soto and Republican Ryan Elijah have won races for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. On Saturday, Nov. 7, election boards submitted unofficial results to the state, confirming their narrow leads.
In the 9th Congressional District, Soto, who represents Osceola County and the southern part of Orange County, beat Republican Dan Green by 0.53%, or 1,506 votes. Soto’s margin grew slightly after several hundred ballots were counted in Osceola County. Of the new ballots, 61 were cast for Soto and 25 for Green.
In the 7th District, Elijah led Democrat Bale’e Dalton by 0.503%, or 1,631 votes. His lead shrank by 70 votes this week after the remaining ballots were counted. He was 9 votes short of the threshold that triggers a recount. According to the source, a recount would be unlikely to cost him the seat because the gap is too large.
Soto’s district is now different from before. The new district map roughly tripled its area and added coastal and more rural, Republican-leaning areas. The Latino share of voters fell from 55% to 40%. According to Associated Press calculations, voters in the new district backed Donald Trump in 2024 by 17.8 percentage points.
Soto attributed the result on election night to his intensive campaigning in the new district and to voters’ irritation over the boundary changes. The result matches his internal polls, which showed a tie a month before the election.
According to WUSF, Elijah’s narrow win shows that Republicans suffered losses nationwide this cycle. Elijah declared victory Wednesday afternoon. In a social media post, he wrote that his team was “fully confident” in the number of votes needed.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
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Source: Słoneczne Radio
