Democrat Emily Gregory Flips Florida House Seat in Mar-a-Lago District

Emily Gregory, a 40-year-old small business owner who had never run for elected office before, defeated a Trump-endorsed Republican on Tuesday to flip Florida House District 87, the Palm Beach County seat whose boundaries wrap around Mar-a-Lago itself.

Gregory won the Florida special election on Tuesday, flipping a state legislative district that is home to Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate that President Donald Trump counts as his residence. With almost all votes counted, Gregory led by 2.4 percentage points, or 797 votes. She won 51.2% of the votes against Maples' 48.8%.

The swing from 2024 is striking. State House District 87 had been vacant since August of last year, when former Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso, who won reelection in 2024 by 19 percentage points, left the seat to become the Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller. Trump won the district by 11 points during the 2024 presidential election.

Gregory's projected victory over Jon Maples, the 43-year-old Republican endorsed by Trump, flipped House District 87 from GOP control. Trump posted on Truth Social the day before the election urging voters to turn out, saying Maples was endorsed "by so many of my Palm Beach County friends." Despite the personal appeal, records show Trump voted by mail-in ballot in the special election. A day before the election he called mail-in voting "cheating" and has constantly pressed for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, which would restrict mail-in ballots.

Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence falls within Florida's state House District 87, now represented by Gregory, meaning she will serve as his representative in the Florida House of Representatives.

Democrats wasted no time framing the result as a national indicator. "Mar-a-Lago just flipped red to blue, which should have Republicans sweating the midterms," said Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Williams called it the 29th seat in state legislatures around the country flipped from Republican control by Democratic candidates since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. She also linked the result directly to kitchen-table pressures: "Gas prices are spiking, grocery costs are up, and families can't get by — it's clear voters at the polls are fed up with Republicans."

DNC Chair Ken Martin declared, "If Democrats can win in Trump's backyard, we sure as hell can win anywhere across the country. Onward to November!"

The Florida result arrived amid a broader Democratic pattern in special elections. Trump was a New Yorker for most of his life but switched his personal residence and voter registration to Florida during his first term. Mar-a-Lago has become a gathering place for Trump's friends and allies, as well as business executives and foreign leaders looking to curry favor with him. In January, Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican Texas state Senate district that Trump had carried by 17 points in 2024. Trump distanced himself from that loss, saying "I'm not involved in that," even though he had endorsed the Republican candidate there.

Gregory said in a statement Tuesday night: "I'm honored that the voters of District 87 have placed their trust in me. Tonight's result sends a clear message that people want Florida to move in a new direction, one where leaders focus on lowering costs and standing up for working families."

The DLCC said last year it was aiming to spend millions of dollars on flipping state legislative seats, though the party acknowledges it has significant ground to recover: Democrats have lost around 800 state legislative seats over the last 15 years, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Gregory's win in the president's own zip code, however, gives the party its sharpest piece of midterm messaging yet. "If Mar-a-Lago is vulnerable, imagine what's possible this November," Williams said.