Democrat Flips Florida House Seat in Trump's Mar-a-Lago District

Emily Gregory, a health fitness small business owner, defeated Trump-backed Republican Jon Maples in the race for Florida House District 87, which includes part of Palm Beach County and President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Gregory took 51% of the vote to Maples' 49% with all precincts reporting.

The win adds another feather in Democrats' caps after last year, when they flipped more than 20 state legislative seats in special or regularly scheduled elections. Since the start of this year, Democrats have also flipped seats in Arkansas, New Hampshire and Texas, where they won a state Senate district that had voted for Trump by 17 points in 2024.

The Palm Beach County district, which runs up the coast through Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno Beach and Hypoluxo, had gone without representation since August, when Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso resigned to become the county's Clerk and Comptroller. Caruso had won reelection in 2024 by 19 percentage points. Trump carried the district by roughly 9 points in 2024.

The extended vacancy shaped the race before a single vote was cast. Nearly two months passed before Gov. Ron DeSantis called the election in late October, a delay that prompted Gregory to sue, arguing voters were being denied representation. While the lawsuit became moot once DeSantis scheduled the contest, the lag meant residents had no voice in Tallahassee during the 2026 Legislative Session.

Gregory, a 40-year-old South Florida native and first-time candidate, framed her campaign around affordability and local quality-of-life concerns. In an interview on Monday, she said she was "good about blocking out the noise" about Trump during the campaign, saying she was staying focused on the more than 180,000 residents in her district. Her endorsements included U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, and several local officials, as well as a boost from a virtual fundraiser hosted by Alex Vindman, the whistleblower behind Trump's first impeachment.

Maples entered the race as the favorite. He held a larger war chest, more political experience, stronger advertising activity, and organizational support from an increasingly powerful state party already dominating the Capitol. Trump posted his endorsement on social media the night before the election: "There is a very important Special Election tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24th, for Florida State House District 87 in beautiful Palm Beach County — JON MAPLES HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!" It also came as a surprise to some voters that Trump voted by mail in Tuesday's special election, even as he has decried mail-in voting and sought to sharply limit it with the Republican-backed SAVE America Act, which would end the widespread practice of no-excuse mail-in voting.

Democrats also touted the recent victory of Andy Thomson, who became the first person to turn the Boca Raton mayoralty blue in at least 45 years following a razor-thin race, a contest held just weeks before Tuesday's result and located roughly 30 miles south of Palm Beach. Gregory's win now means, as CNN reported, that Mar-a-Lago will be represented by a trio of Democrats across the Florida state House, Senate, and U.S. House. Democrats had characterized the HD 87 race as a "rare flip opportunity," even as Republicans continue to hold a significant statewide registration advantage of 1.48 million voters. In Tallahassee, that registration edge still translates into supermajority control of both chambers, making Gregory's seat a narrow but concrete breach in an otherwise dominant Republican map.