The Republican primary in Florida's 7th Congressional District has been called, and Ryan Elijah eked out a win over the incumbent Representative Cory Mills (R-FL) in a vicious race.
The Results
The final tally shows Elijah winning by 46.9% over Rep. Mills, who finished with 34.4% of the vote.
A Fight for the Ages
Rep. Mills faced a steep uphill battle in the past few weeks amid an alleged Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into financial and personal misconduct.
The Florida congressman called the probe a "desperate lie," with an influencer named Tiffany Savage accusing Elijah of anonymously tipping the allegation.
Mills and Elijah then clashed over poll numbers taken near the end of July, which showed Elijah as the frontrunner, but Mills refused to be intimidated, saying, "I lost every straw poll but one in 2022. How well did that work out for the guy who bragged about straw polls? You might want to run a real poll [because] we will be releasing the results of [National Republican Congressional Committee] and our polls soon. Get ready to humble yourself."
He reiterated his defiance in the face of losing support from Representatives Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) during the August 5th debate with his opponents, emphasizing, "I don't back down, and they want to eliminate people like that because they want swampy people who will continue to go to the lobbies and get the money exactly how you talked about and come in here and exactly what they want, and not what the American people and not what their constituents want."
