Democrat Scores Upset Win in Florida

A Democrat has won a closely watched Florida House special election in a legislative district that President Trump carried in 2016. Uncertified results from the Sarasota County elections office show that Margaret Good took more than 52% of the vote in Tuesday's race, while Republican James Buchanan had nearly 45%, the AP reports. Libertarian Alison Foxall received just over 3%. The Herald-Tribune reports that the final turnout figure was 36%, believed to be a new record in state House special elections, with more than 44,000 people casting ballots. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in Florida House District 72 by more than 12,000.

The seat opened up last summer when Republican Rep. Alex Miller resigned, citing family and business reasons. She'd been in office less than a year. The seat was the 36th state legislative seat to switch from Republican to Democrat since the 2016 election. Before the Florida election, Republicans warned that "unified" national Democrats were pouring resources into the race. "This is going to set the tone for 2018, and I'm telling you, it's going to come down to a few hundred votes, if that," Buchanan, the Republican candidate, said at a rally Sunday, per the Washington Post. "You can't become complacent. It's important that we get a win here."

(More special election stories.)