ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Republican Rep. Neal Dunn defeated Democratic Rep. Al Lawson for a north Florida congressional seat in a redrawn district that pitted the two incumbents against each other.
Dunn, a surgeon from Panama City, was elected to a fourth term in the U.S. House. Lawson, who is Black, had represented a majority-Black district that was eliminated at the insistence of GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis during redistricting triggered by the 2020 U.S. Census. That move prompted a lawsuit alleging unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, though an appeals court allowed the map to remain in place this year.
The DeSantis-ordered maneuver put the two congressmen in the same district, which is more friendly to Republican candidates. Lawson, a former state legislator from Tallahassee, was first elected to Congress in 2016.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost defeated Republican Calvin Wimbish on Tuesday for a Florida U.S. House seat, making him the first member of Generation Z to win a seat in Congress.
As of Tuesday night, most of the Florida races for the U.S. House of Representatives had gone according to prediction, including Republican Anna Paulina Luna's win against Democrat Eric Lynn in the 13th District, a St. Petersburg-based district formerly represented by Democrat Charlie Crist.
Frost, a 25-year-old gun reform and social justice activist, ran in a heavily blue Orlando-area district being relinquished by Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who challenged Republican Sen. Marco Rubio this year.
Frost is a former March For Our Lives organizer seeking stricter gun control laws and has stressed opposition to restrictions on abortion rights. Generation Z generally refers to those born between the late 1990s to early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.
Wimbish, a 72-year-old former Army Green Beret who called himself a “Christian, conservative, constitutionalist” candidate for office, was handily defeated.
Frost is among at least six newcomers to the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday’s vote from Florida as Republicans try to take advantage of an aggressively redrawn congressional map spearheaded by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In the wake of the 2020 census, DeSantis had ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to adopt a map devised to maximize Republican gains — vetoing the initial GOP-backed map which largely kept intact two seats held by Black Democratic members of Congress.
Heading into this election year, Republicans held 16 seats and Democrats represented 11 from Florida in the House. Florida is gaining a 28th seat due to population growth.
The marquee races include a pair of incumbent House members — Republican Neal Dunn and Democrat Al Lawson — facing off against each other in a north Florida district that leans GOP. Lawson’s majority-Black district was scrapped by the Republican-led Legislature, which adopted a congressional map pushed by DeSantis, prompting a lawsuit alleging unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
Barring incumbent defeats, the new House members will come from six open seats, including the 13th District won by Luna after losing in 2020 to Crist.
In addition, Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy chose not to run for reelection after her redrawn district in central Florida, leading to a victory by Republican Cory Mills, which marks a switch to the GOP. And in South Florida, Democrat Ted Deutch’s retirement opened the way for fellow Democrat Jared Moskowitz to win the seat.
One truly open seat, where no incumbent was involved, was the 15th District in the Tampa area, where Republican Laurel Lee — a former Florida secretary of state — defeated Democrat Alan Cohn, a former investigative journalist.
Among races with an incumbent, Miami-area 27th District was the most closely contested and had a history of flipping back and forth between Democrats and Republicans.
In that race, Democratic state Sen. Annette Taddeo lost to first-term Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, keeping the seat in the GOP fold.
Otherwise, Florida incumbent U.S. House members are headed back to Washington, barring any upsets.
These include Republican Matt Gaetz, a top supporter of former President Donald Trump who is under federal investigation in a sex trafficking case; Democrat Kathy Castor in a Tampa-area seat; Republican Vern Buchanan, who could chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee in a GOP-led House; Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former Democratic National Committee chair; and state delegation dean and Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, first elected in 2002.
One incumbent had no opposition Tuesday: GOP Rep. John Rutherford, a former Duval County sheriff, has already won another term in north Florida’s 5th District.
The economy is weighing heavily on the minds of Florida voters. Three-quarters of them believe things in the country are heading in the wrong direction, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 3,200 voters in Florida. About half rank the economy and jobs as the most important issues facing the country.
Almost 8 in 10 voters say the nation’s economy is not so good or poor. When looking at their own family’s financial situation, about half describe it as holding steady while almost 4 in 10 say they are falling behind. However, 6 in 10 voters say they are confident they can keep up with their expenses and find a good job if needed.
For a majority, inflation is the single most important factor in the election.
Meanwhile, nearly 7 in 10 voters say the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion is an important factor in the election.
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Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections.
And follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.
Curt Anderson, The Associated Press
