Republican Sen. Corey Simon has held onto his seat in 2024's only competitive Florida Senate race, fending off Democrat lawyer Daryl Parks and continuing the historic feat of becoming the first conservative in over 100 years to represent the North Florida district.
While former NFL star Simon was first elected in 2022—becoming Senate District 3's first Republican official in a century—after upsetting Democrat incumbent Loranne Ausley, liberals hoped that civil rights lawyer Parks, who represented the family of the black teen whose death sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, could make the seat blue once more.
He could not.
On Election Night, Simon beat Parks by just over 33,000 votes by raking in nearly 56% of the vote. This blows past his narrow win against Ausley, whom he beat by just 13,000 votes. This means Simon will serve again as Senator of Florida's third district, which oversees thirteen North Florida counties (including Tallahassee at the heart of Leon County).
This is huge for Republicans: SD 3 was Democrats' sole shot at flipping a red seat blue; a necessary feat considering Republicans enjoy a supermajority of 28-12 in the state Senate—effectively nullifying any liberal agendas in the Capitol chamber.
Parks, Simon, and their campaign committees raised well over $2 million and collectively spent over $7 million on ads. In mid-October, Parks and Simon debated for the once Democrat-dominated district.
