Florida Democrats Wanted to Gain 5 House Seats: Instead, Recount Will Decide if They Lose Two

Florida Democrats only have one shot at maintaining the same number of House seats they had last session: keeping Palm Beach County Democrat Katherine Waldron in office in House District 93.

The issue? She's down by 356 votes to Republican former Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig.

With a margin of 0.38 percentage points between the candidates, the election went to an automatic recount at 10 a.m. Friday. If Gerwig wins, Republicans will have added one more seat to their supermajority, sinking any further hopes Democrats may have at passing liberal agendas through the lower chamber.

Republicans already flipped House District 35 in Orlando, kicking out Rep. Tom Keen in favor of former school board member Erika Booth. Keen had shocked conservatives in January when he beat out Booth for the seat in a special election after Republican Rep. Fred Hawkins left it vacant. Democrats touted Keen as a bellwether for what was to come in the 2024 general election, hoping his surprise election signaled an incoming blue wave that would allow them to capture at least five seats to break Republicans' supermajority.

They were wrong.

In one positive sign for the FDP, however, former Amazon executive and consultant for DEI issues Leonard Spencer narrowly unseated Republican Rep. Carolina Amesty weeks after she was indicted for forgery. This kept the same balance of red and blue seats present last session.

But if Gerwig boots Waldron, Republicans will have gained a net of one seat instead of losing the net five Democrats had hoped for. While this seat may not be procedurally important for conservatives—who are already dominating in both chambers—it would be another blow to Democrats' egos. And even if Waldron does eke out a win, it would be something of a hollow victory; no substance can be achieved, and it's simply a reminder that Democrats are no closer to seizing back legislative control this year than they were last year.

Waldron, 64, passed the most bills of any freshman House Democrat since the 2022 election, Florida Politics reported. She had raised almost double Gerwig's war chest, though Gerwig, 61, also had nearly $44,000 of in-kind aid from the Republican Party of Florida. Democrats gave no such assistance to their incumbent.

The recount is expected to be complete by midnight.