Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2026

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Florida's 1st Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: April 24, 2026
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Florida
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
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All U.S. House districts, including the 1st Congressional District of Florida, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House Florida District 1

The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 1 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Jimmy Patronis (R)
		Gay Valimont (D)
		Aaron Dimmock (R)
	Submit photo	Charles Keebaugh (R)
		John Mills (R)
	Submit photo	Bernadette Pittman (R)
	Submit photo	Tayla Plumer (R)
		Gene Valentino (R)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Gay Valimont
• Aaron Dimmock
• Charles Keebaugh
• Jimmy Patronis

Voting information

See also: Voting in Florida

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Aaron Dimmock
• Charles Keebaugh
• Gay Valimont
• Jimmy Patronis

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Jimmy Patronis	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Gay Valimont	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Cedric Alexander	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Aaron Dimmock	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Charles Keebaugh	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	As of March 5, 2025
John Mills	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Bernadette Pittman	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Tayla Plumer	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Gene Valentino	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," . This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025	8/12/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

2024

See also: Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2024

Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 20 Republican primary)

Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 20 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 1

Incumbent Matt Gaetz defeated Gay Valimont in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Gaetz (R)	66.0	274,108
		Gay Valimont (D)	34.0	140,980

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 415,088
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Gay Valimont advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 1.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 1

Incumbent Matt Gaetz defeated Aaron Dimmock in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 1 on August 20, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Gaetz	72.6	70,824
		Aaron Dimmock	27.4	26,788

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 97,612
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• William McPhillips (R)
• Todd Jennings (R)
• Christine Santiago (R)
• John Mills (R)

2022

See also: Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 1

Incumbent Matt Gaetz defeated Rebekah Jones in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Gaetz (R)	67.9	197,349
		Rebekah Jones (D)	32.1	93,467

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 290,816
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 1

Rebekah Jones defeated Margaret Schiller in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 1 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rebekah Jones	62.6	21,875
		Margaret Schiller	37.4	13,091

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,966
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 1

Incumbent Matt Gaetz defeated Mark Lombardo and Greg Merk in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 1 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Gaetz	69.7	73,374
		Mark Lombardo	24.4	25,720
		Greg Merk	5.9	6,170

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 105,264
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jeremy Kelly (R)
• Bryan Jones (R)
• William McPhillips (R)

2020

See also: Florida's 1st Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 1

Incumbent Matt Gaetz defeated Phil Ehr and Albert Oram in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Gaetz (R)	64.6	283,352
		Phil Ehr (D)	34.0	149,172
	Submit photo	Albert Oram (No Party Affiliation)	1.4	6,038

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 438,562
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Phil Ehr advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 1.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Cheryl Howard (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 1

Incumbent Matt Gaetz defeated John Mills and Greg Merk in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 1 on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Gaetz	80.9	87,457
		John Mills	9.6	10,383
		Greg Merk	9.5	10,227

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 108,067 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Chase Anderson Romagnano (R)
• Emily Rosas (R)

District analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this district's elections when those are available.

See also

Florida	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Florida congressional delegation Voting in Florida Florida elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Florida's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ashley Moody (R)

Rick Scott (R)

Representatives

District 1

Jimmy Patronis (R)

District 2

Neal Dunn (R)

District 3

Kat Cammack (R)

District 4

Aaron Bean (R)

District 5

John Rutherford (R)

District 6

Randy Fine (R)

District 7

Cory Mills (R)

District 8

Mike Haridopolos (R)

District 9

Darren Soto (D)

District 10

Maxwell Frost (D)

District 11

Daniel Webster (R)

District 12

Gus Bilirakis (R)

District 13

Anna Luna (R)

District 14

Kathy Castor (D)

District 15

Laurel Lee (R)

District 16

Vern Buchanan (R)

District 17

Greg Steube (R)

District 18

Scott Franklin (R)

District 19

Byron Donalds (R)

District 20

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D)

District 21

Brian Mast (R)

District 22

Lois Frankel (D)

District 23

Jared Moskowitz (D)

District 24

Frederica Wilson (D)

District 25

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)

District 26

Mario Diaz-Balart (R)

District 27

Maria Elvira Salazar (R)

District 28

Carlos Gimenez (R)

Republican Party (22)

Democratic Party (8)

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