Florida Democrats scored a win on Tuesday night as aerospace engineer Tom Keen was elected to a battleground state House district in a special election, reported the Orlando Sentinel.
"Keen, who works in the aerospace training and simulation industry, defeated Republican Erika Booth, a teacher and member of the Osceola School Board. Unofficial totals had Keen with 51.3% of the vote to Booth’s 48.7%," reported Steven Lemongello. "The special election for the district in eastern Orange and Osceola counties was triggered when former Republican state Rep. Fred Hawkins resigned last year to become president of South Florida State College in Highlands County."
This district is almost evenly balanced between Democrats and Republicans. It was carried overwhelmingly by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis two years ago, but also backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
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According to Florida Politics, Keen previously ran for the district in 2022, and lost the nomination by just 57 votes. He then won the nomination for the special election in an upset against two better-funded opponents. He campaigned in part on the GOP's failure to address the homeowners' insurance crisis in Florida.
"The election was considered a bellwether of whether Florida Democrats will be more competitive in 2024 following their blowout loss to Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022, which swept in a GOP supermajority in both houses of the Legislature," reported Lemongello. "Keen canvassed with local Democratic stars U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and state Rep. Anna Eskamani and launched an ad targeting the GOP on abortion rights."
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, the former state Agriculture Secretary and runner-up for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2022, has vowed to reinvigorate the party, which has seen a long string of losses over the last decade. Earlier this year, Florida Democrats scored another small victory with the election of former TV anchor Donna Deegan as mayor of Jacksonville, long one of Florida's more Republican-leaning large cities.
