DemDaily: This Week’s Elections: Florida, Wyoming
August 21, 2026
Voters in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming went to the polls this week to determine their political parties' nominees in the 2026 midterm elections -- now just 74 days away!
Among them, several high-profile statewide races that could set the balance of power in the United States Senate and governors' mansions.
Residents of California's 14th CD also decided who will replace a disgraced Congressman.
| See DemDaily: This Week’s Elections: Alaska 8/20/26 |
FLORIDA
US Senate Special Election
Three-term Republican Senator Marco Rubio resigned his Senate seat in January 2025 to become Trump's US Secretary of State. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed state Attorney General Ashley Moody to serve as interim US Senator through November 2026, when the election to fill the remaining two years of Rubio's term takes place.
Moody easily won Tuesday's Republican primary with 79.6%, dispensing with three challengers, and was expected to face retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and former National Security Council Ukraine expert Alexander Vindman, who was a key witness in President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial.
In a surprise upset, however, progressive State Representative Angie Nixon defeated Vindman 56.1%-43.9% for the Democratic nomination while also being outspent 10 to one.
The race is being touted as a high-profile example of the rise of the Insurgent Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) faction of the party, which Nixon joined shortly before the election. Vindman had the support of establishment Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Nixon, a small-business owner and three-term lawmaker from Jacksonville, made headlines in May when she was arrested after staging a five-hour sit-in in DeSantis’s office over his unconstitutional gerrymandering of the state's congressional maps to the advantage of the GOP.
Governor
Conservative Governor and former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is term-limited, creating a coveted open seat for both parties.
Three-term Congressman Byron Donalds, who entered the primary with Trump's endorsement, handily won the Republican nomination with 47.8%, followed by Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, who secured 25.2%. The remaining nine candidates came in under 11%.
Donalds, a self-described "strong proud conservative" who backed Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 presidential primary, entered Election Day with a roughly 12-to-1 cash advantage over Collins.
Donalds faces former Congressman David Jolly, who was first elected as a Republican in a 2014 special election before losing his seat in 2016 and leaving the GOP in 2018 over the direction of the party under Trump's first Administration. As an Independent, Jolly practiced law and became a lobbyist before becoming a prominent MSNBC commentator and anti-Trump critic. He registered as a Democrat before launching his gubernatorial bid in June 2025.
Jolly, a moderate, swept the Democratic primary with 60.9%, defeating four other candidates who came in under 16%. He has tapped former Congresswoman and Assistant Secretary of Education under Biden Quinn Graham, the daughter of former two-term Florida Governor and three-term US Senator Bob Graham.
US House
Florida has 28 US House seats, including 20 Republicans, seven Democrats, and one vacancy, created as a result of redistricting.
7th Congressional District: Embattled two-term Republican Congressman Cory Mills, who is under an official House Ethics Committee investigation for sexual misconduct and domestic violence, has been unseated in the Republican primary by former television journalist Ryan Elijah, 47.3%-34.1%.
In the central Florida District, Elijah is facing former NASA Chief of Staff and Navy veteran Bale Dalton, a moderate, who was openly endorsed by the national Party and establishment Dems in the primary, which he won with 45.5%. He defeated progressive Navy veteran Marialana Kinter (35.6%) and former Congressman Alan Grayson (18.9%).
| Once the country's largest battleground state, Florida delivered its 29 (now 30) electoral votes to the winning presidential candidate, regardless of party, for six elections -- until Biden broke the record by winning the White House but losing Florida to Donald Trump by 3.36% in 2020. The Sunshine State, which has trended more Republican over the last decade, delivered Trump a 13.1 percentage-point victory in 2024. Democrats are still optimistic, given Trump's net -6 favorability rating In the state -- a 10-point negative downturn over 6 months. |
19th Congressional District: In the Southwest CD vacated by Donalds, now the GOP nominee for governor, conservative 92.5 FOX News owner Jim Schwartzel defeated Trump-endorsed Catalina Lauf, a former Administration official, 29.1%-22%. Jim Oberweis followed with 15.7%, former North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn (8.5%), and six other contenders who came in under 7.5%.
Schwartzel faces Victor Arias, who secured the Democratic nomination with 45.5%, over Howard Sapp (41.1%) and Robert Neeld 13.4%).
20th Congressional District: Eleven-term Congresswoman and former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose 25th CD was reshuffled under the state's new Republican-drawn congressional map, opted to run in the new majority-minority 20th District. Although she is White and her decision stoked tensions, she defeated (45.3%) four other primary contenders, all Black, by 22 percentage points or more.
In the solidly Democratic seat, Wasserman Schultz faces Republican Pompano Beach businessman Brent Andersen.
WYOMING
US Senate
In the open seat to succeed retiring GOP Senator Cynthia Lummis, At-Large Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, running with Trump’s endorsement, handily won the Republican nomination with 64.9%.
He is facing former Wyoming State House Minority Whip and Caucus Leader James Byrd, a fifth-generation Wyomingite who swept the Democratic nomination with 79.3%.
Governor
In the contest to succeed retiring GOP Governor Mark Gordon, mainstream conservative State Senator Eric Barlow won the Republican nomination with 45.1%, defeating Trump-endorsed hard-right School Superintendent Megan Degenfelder (29.7%) and retired Marine colonel Brent Bien (23.6%).
Harlow faces third-generation Wyomingite and perennial candidate Kenneth Casner.
California 14th Congressional District Special Non-Partisan Runoff Election
Progressive State Senator Aisha Wahab, who was endorsed by the California Democratic Party, won the special election to replace former Congressman Eric Swalwell (D), who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations in April.
Wahab defeated former Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez, 53.1% to 46.9% in what was watched as another intraparty ideological fight, with the more moderate Hernandez heavily supported by outside groups including AIPAC. The two will face off again in November's regular general election for the full term beginning in 2027.
DemList will keep you informed.
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