Trump-backed Republican battles to hold key Florida seat in president's stomping ground

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A GOP state legislative candidate in Florida is aiming to keep Republicans in control of a long-vacant state house seat in a Palm Beach-anchored district that includes Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's home turf.

Republican Jon Maples is facing off in a special election in Florida's House District 87 against Democrat Emily Gregory in the race to fill the seat left vacant last August, when GOP state Rep. Mike Caruso resigned to become Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller.

The ballot box battle is one of three special legislative elections being held in GOP-dominated Florida on Tuesday. And while the contests won't change the balance of power in the state legislature, where for more than a quarter-century Republicans have held majorities in both the House and Senate chambers, bragging rights are up for grabs in the president's home district.

Maples is backed by Trump, who moved his primary permanent residence in 2019 from Trump Tower in New York City to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. He is also backed by a number of top Sunshine State Republicans.

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President Donald Trump is backing Republican Jon Maples in Tuesday's special legislative election in Florida's House District 87, which includes Mar-a-Lago, the president's permanent residence in Palm Beach, Florida. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images; AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

"There is a very important Special Election tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24th, for Florida State House District 87 in beautiful Palm Beach County — JON MAPLES HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!" the president wrote in a social media post on Monday evening.

The 43-year-old Maples, a financial planner and former Lake Clarke Shores Council member who during his years at Palm Beach Atlantic University was an all-American athlete, has made cutting taxes and government spending, reducing regulations, promoting private sector job creation and advancing school choice.

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Gregory, a 40-year-old Army spouse, owns and runs a Jupiter-based fitness center for pregnant and postpartum women. The first-time candidate has made affordability, increasing public education, tackling rising property insurance and housing costs, and access to healthcare key parts of her campaign.

Maples was the favorite heading into the special election, thanks to his fundraising advantage in a district that leads to the right. Trump carried the district by roughly 10 points in his 2024 re-election victory.

A victory by Maples would be further evidence of the GOP surge in Palm Beach County, which was once firmly blue.

In central Florida's Hillsborough County, Republican Josie Tomkow and Democrat Brian Nathan are facing off Tuesday in the State Senate 14 race to succeed Republican Jay Collins, who resigned from the seat in August to become the state's lieutenant governor.

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The district includes much of Democrat-leaning Tampa as well as the more GOP-leaning Northwest Hillsborough suburbs.

And Republican Hilary Holley and Democrat Edwin Perez are on the ballot in the special election in House District 51, in the race to replace Tomkow. The district covers parts of Polk County, in the central part of the state.