2025 Florida's 1st congressional district special election

← 2024 April 1, 2025[1] 2026 →
Florida's 1st congressional district
Nominee Jimmy Patronis Gay Valimont Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 97,370 72,375 Percentage 56.86% 42.26%
County results Precinct results Patronis:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     90%+ Valimont:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     90%+
U.S. Representative before election Matt Gaetz Republican Elected U.S. Representative Jimmy Patronis Republican

The2025 Florida's 1st congressional district special election was held on April 1, 2025, to fill a vacant seat inFlorida's 1st congressional district previously occupied byMatt Gaetz, who resigned on November 13, 2024, after president-electDonald Trump nominated him forattorney general of the United States.^[2] Gaetz later withdrew his nomination for attorney general on November 21.^[3] The following day, Gaetz announced he would not return to Congress. He had been reelected for a sixth term earlier in the month, but declined to take his seat. It was considered asafe Republican district.

The election was held alongside aconcurrent special election forFlorida's 6th congressional district. The race was called for Patronis almost immediately after polls closed.^[4] Despite Patronis' victory, Democrats significantly improved their margins in this election, overperforming their 2024 result by 17.4 percentage points^[5] and flippingEscambia County, Valimont's home county and home toPensacola. Valimont became the first Democrat running for this district to win the county sinceEarl Hutto in 1992.^[6] This is the strongest Democratic performance in this district during the 21st century.

The1st district takes in the westernmost area of theFlorida panhandle, encompassingEscambia,Santa Rosa, andOkaloosa counties, as well as about half ofWalton County. A significant portion of the district's population are servicemen and women of theU.S. military, due in large part to theNaval Air Station nearPensacola and the nearbycommuter towns ofNavarre andFort Walton Beach.

The district was given aCook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+19 in 2022, making it the most Republican district in Florida.^[7] In the2024 presidential election, Donald Trump won the district with 68.1%, while then-incumbent Gaetz was re-elected with 66.0% of the vote in 2024.^[8]

• Jimmy Patronis, formerchief financial officer of Florida (2017–2025)^[9]

• Aaron Dimmock, director for leadership programs at theUniversity of West Florida's AWKO Center for Leadership and candidate for this district in2024^[10]
• Kevin Gaffney, teacher^[11]
• Jeff Macey, software engineer^[10]
• Greg Merk, pilot and candidate for this district in2020 and2022^[11]
• John Mills, businessman and candidate for this district in2016,2018,2020, and2022^[10]
• Jeff Peacock, former policy director for U.S. representativeLee Zeldin^[10]
• Joel Rudman, formerstate representative from the3rd district (2022–2025)^[12]
• Michael Dylan Thompson, attorney^[13]
• Gene Valentino, formerEscambia County commissioner^[14]

• John Frankman, formerGreen Beret(endorsed Patronis)^[15]
• Keith Gross, former assistant state attorney forFlorida's 18th circuit court and candidate for U.S. Senate in2024(endorsed Patronis)^[15]
• Nathan Nelson, former director of military affairs forMatt Gaetz(endorsed Patronis)^[16]
• Michelle Salzman,state representative from the1st district (2020–present)(endorsed Patronis)^[17]
• Jeff Witt, pilot(endorsed Patronis)^[18]

• Alex Andrade,state representative from the2nd district (2018–present)^[19]
• Doug Broxson, formerstate senator from the1st district (2016–2024)^[20]
• Don Gaetz,state senator from the1st district (2006–2016, 2024–present), formerpresident of the Florida Senate (2012–2014), and father ofMatt Gaetz^[21]
• Matt Gaetz, former U.S. representative from this district (2017–2024)^[22]
• Bernadette Pittman, construction company CEO(endorsed Rudman)^[23]
• D. C. Reeves,Mayor ofPensacola (2022–present)^[19]
• Frank White, formerstate representative from the2nd district (2016–2018)(endorsed Patronis)^[24]

• Gay Valimont, athletic trainer and nominee for this district in2024^[34]

• Stephen Broden, pastor,Constitution Party nominee for vice president in2024, and Republican nominee forTexas's 30th congressional district in2010^[10]

• Richard Paul Dembinsky, engineer and perennial candidate^[10]
• Stanley Gray, retiree^[10]
• Jonathan Green, mediator^[10]
• Stan McDaniels, landscaping contractor^[10]

• 2025 United States House of Representatives elections
• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives

Official campaign websites

• Jimmy Patronis (R) for Congress
• Gay Valimont (D) for Congress

• 2025 Florida elections
• 2025 United States House of Representatives elections
• April 2025 in the United States
• Florida special elections
• Special elections to the 119th United States Congress
• United States House of Representatives special elections
• United States House of Representatives elections in Florida

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2025