Dem flips Mar-a-Lago Florida district

In 2024's election, the Florida legislature's 87th district went for Donald Trump by 19 points. It is, after all, the home of his Mar-a-Lago compound. But yesterday Democrat Emily Gregory flipped it blue, defeating Republican Jon Maples.

"When I started this nine months ago, I obviously thought it was possible," Gregory told MSNBC. "I might have done some crazy calculus to decide that this was a flip opportunity, but it was," she later added. "And we did it. So my math worked."

Another special election, another "suprise" Dem victory.

Democrats have performed well in special elections during Trump's second term, and Gregory's victory could indicate momentum for the party heading into this year's congressional midterm elections.

Here's Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin: "If Democrats can win in Trump's backyard, we sure as hell can win anywhere across the country. Onward to November!"

If Trump's personal endorsement helped Maples, it didn't help enough to avoid a red district turning blue. Last month, Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a deep-red Tarrant County state Senate seat in Texas by 14 points—a 32 point swing, given that Trump carried the district by 17 points in 2024. Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith called it a "9.5 on the Richter scale." Rehmet became the first Democrat to flip that seat since 1991, upsetting a conservative activist who outspent him by millions.

In Georgia, Democrats flipped two seats on the state's Public Service Commission The Hill — a body that had long been a Republican stronghold. They also won the Miami mayor's office for the first time in decades. The Hill

In Mississippi, after a judge threw out the state's legislative maps for racial discrimination, Democrats picked up three new seats there. Then there was the New Jersey wave in a region that had been trending red for decades.