A Democratic candidate won the third Florida election in a row over a Republican, drawing concern from Republicans that the party is losing steam in the largest swing state in the U.S., Politico reported Wednesday.
Margaret Good, the Democrat, flipped the seat in a win over Republican James Buchanan in Florida’s 72nd House District Tuesday. The seat had been held by a Republican in Sarasota County, in which registered GOP voters outnumber Democrats by 12,000, the report said.
"This is beyond a trend. The results are in. Republicans have a real problem in this state," said Democratic pollster Tom Eldon in the Politico report.
"This is the bellwether seat. This seat in Sarasota is the Republicans’ backyard. Any time Democrats win a seat like this, it’s great for Democrats," Eldon said.
President Donald Trump carried that district by 4.6 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, the report said.
Democrats tied Buchanan to Trump, as they did the two other Republicans in recent Democrat wins in Florida, in the 40th Senate District and in the St. Petersburg mayoral election, the report said.
Former vice president Joe Biden appeared as a surrogate in all three races, and some Republicans supported Good, Politico reported.
Democratic wins are happening around the U.S. Good’s win was the 36th legislative seat that a Democrat has taken from a Republican since 2016, Politico reported.
"Buchanan was a terrible candidate. And candidates matter," said one Republican, who did not want to publicly criticize his party’s candidate, Politico reported.
Republicans also noted that two of their party’s governor candidates, Agricultre Commissioner Adam Putnam and Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., did not pitch in to help Buchanan, while the Democratic candidates for governor teamed up to support Good, the report said.
"Not only did Democratic women really come out, the fact that so many Republicans and independents voted for Good says to me that there is a good chunk of these swing voters who are just frustrated by the direction of the administration, and sent the only message they could," Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale said in The Hill.