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President Donald Trump's home county of Palm Beach, where his Mar-a-Lago estate sits, moved sharply toward Democrats on Tuesday even as his party kept its grip on Florida, according to figures reported by the Associated Press as of 8:53 p.m. ET.
With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, was up 10 points in the county, a 10-point swing from the 2024 presidential margin.
David Jolly, the party's nominee for governor, led by 12 points there. José Javier Rodríguez, running for attorney general, led by 11.
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Trump lost Palm Beach County by 0.74 points in 2024. Joe Biden won it by about 13 points four years earlier, so Jolly's lead sits just under Biden's margin and roughly 11 points above Kamala Harris's.
Trump Voted Here Last Month
Trump cast an early ballot in person in West Palm Beach in October. Asked whether he had voted for Republicans across the ballot, he replied, "Very much so."
But Democrats have also scored victories in Trump's backyard. In March, Emily Gregory flipped the state House district that includes Mar-a-Lago in a special election. "Donald Trump's own neighbors just sent a crystal-clear message," Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said after the win.
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Further down Tuesday's ballot, Republican Representative Brian Mast was leading Democrat James Martin by 9 points in the Palm Beach County portion of Florida's 21st Congressional District. That area voted 6 points more Democratic in the congressional race than it did in the 2024 presidential election.
Across the entire district, Mast had 54.3 percent of the vote, or 175,691 votes, to Martin's 44.4 percent, or 143,544.
Elsewhere in Palm Beach County, Democratic Representative Lois Frankel led Republican Deborah Adeimy by 31 points, with more than 95 percent of the vote counted. Frankel's redrawn 23rd Congressional District, which lies entirely within the county, voted 17 points more Democratic than it did in the 2024 presidential race.
Florida Governor Race: Byron Donalds Defeats David Jolly
Donalds, a Republican representative from Florida backed by Trump, defeated Jolly, according to the AP's race call. With more than 95 percent of the vote in, Donalds had 50 percent, or 4,081,807 votes, to Jolly's 48.7 percent, or 3,970,771. Trump carried the state 56.1 percent to 43 percent in 2024.
Donalds will become Florida's first Black governor when he succeeds Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is term-limited. Florida has not elected a Democrat as governor since 1994.
Polling in the governor's race had been mixed, with most surveys giving Donalds a slight edge. Jolly, a former Republican congressman who joined the Democratic Party in 2025, ran on affordability and the boom in AI data centers, calling his opponent "data center Donalds."
In the attorney general's race, Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier led Rodríguez 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent in NBC News' count, and the network had not called it.
Florida Senate Race: Ashley Moody Defeats Angie Nixon
Florida Senator Ashley Moody, a Republican, won her special election against Nixon. The AP declared her the winner at 8:34 p.m. ET, and she led by about 51 percent to 48 percent.
DeSantis appointed Moody to the seat in January 2025 after Marco Rubio left to become secretary of state. She will serve the last two years of Rubio's term, and the seat is on the ballot again in 2028.
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Nixon, a state representative, upset Alex Vindman, the establishment favorite, in the August primary, in a state where Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race since 2012. Moody spent much of the race calling her a socialist over her decision to join the Democratic Socialists of America this year, while Nixon criticized Moody for refusing to debate.
Democrat Jared Moskowitz Defeats Republican Scott Singer
Farther south, Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz beat Singer, the Trump-backed former mayor of Boca Raton, in the newly drawn 25th Congressional District, according to AP results. In NBC News' count, Moskowitz had 51.3 percent to Singer's 46.6 percent.
Moskowitz represented the old 23rd District and ran in the 25th after Florida redrew its congressional map, which made the seat friendlier to Trump. The new district runs from Delray Beach in Palm Beach County down to South Beach.
"This race will help decide the balance of power in the House," Moskowitz said before the vote.
Midterm electorates are smaller than presidential ones. About 558,000 votes had been counted in the county's Senate race Tuesday night. In the 2024 presidential race, about 738,500 were cast.
Trump won Florida 56.1 percent to 43 percent in 2024.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Alfred Joyner, Gray R. Thomas
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