Republicans are sweating the result of two important House races in heavy dark Florida while both flanks look anxiously at the Wisconsin Supreme Court vote.
While Florida’s chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, is leading in the five-candidate competition to succeed retired 1st District  , Rep. Matt Gaetz, he’s been outspent 5-1 by Gay Valimont, the Democrats ‘ leading member. Also, Republican State Sen. Randy Fine has been outspent 10-1 by math tutor Josh Weil in the competition to succeed Rep. Mike Waltz in Florida 6.
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Both GOP prospects have been aided by large ad buys by traditional SuperPacs. Neither is likely to reduce.
The problem is one of view. Patronis may very well get by double digits ( in a city Trump won by more than 30 factors ). But Fine’s plan has been plagued by GOP bickering, with Great having ruffled the wings of Gov. Ron DeSantis by changing his support to Trump before the Florida key next year.  ,
There have also been terrible complaints by local and national Republicans about Fine’s lackadaisical approach to the competition.  ,
” We are annoyed but no worried”, said one regional GOP planner. ” Annoyed Fine hasn’t done jack s**t for himself and is counting on the ecosystem to bail him out”, he added. The reporters spoke on the condition he doesn’t become identified.  ,
That “ecosystem” is a practically 4-1 GOP membership benefits in Florida 6. DeSantis thinks that this factor alone will drive Good over the complete collection. But the profits of victory may include Democrats attempting to gin up excitement among their basic supporters for coming nearer.  ,
Wisconsin has no such “ecosystem” benefit for Republicans. What the GOP has is Elon Musk, who, along with his affiliated parties, has poured$ 20 million into the state’s Supreme Court culture.
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Musk isn’t on the vote in Wisconsin, but Democrats have decided to make him the key composite. The competition is to replace the chair of a retiring democratic righteousness, and with the latest beauty of the courtroom 3-3, this competition will determine who sets the agenda in Wisconsin.
At play are contraception access, public individual union bargaining rights, and a rewriting of the government’s 10 congressional districts that may provide the Democrats an additional 2-3 seats in Washington.
Donald Trump has taken an active hand in the Wisconsin culture as well, while Musk has crisscrossed the express trying to revitalize Democrats. Surveys show an extremely close competition, depending on the attendance design. Most polls give Democrat Dane County Judge Susan Crawford the advantage over past GOP attorney general Brad Schimel.
Relevant: Elon Musk Goes All In on the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race
In the last 10 times, Republicans have taken a hair-on-fire view in Florida, desperately trying to get their citizens to the polls. The ecology will almost certainly save both Fine and Patronis, although it will be significantly closer than it should be. Specific elections have extremely low turnouts generally, but also in a district with massive Republican registration advantages, an energized Democratic base could make it tight.  ,
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Wisconsin is another issue. A state that Trump won by less than 30, 000 vote has no good GOP center to fall back on.
” The early voting information shows that even equivalent to 2024, Democrats are significantly more likely to show up than Republicans are — and in a position that Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point in 2024, this makes the GOP’s job many harder”, Lakshya Jain and Giacomo Pensa read on the polling site Poured Ticket.
Whatever the final result in Florida, Democrats will claim victory for making it closer than expected. They won’t be able to do that in Wisconsin, but will say the GOP should have won anyway because of Musk’s million.
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