Florida's 9th Congressional District election, 2026

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Florida's 9th 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 Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Democratic
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 9th 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 9

Incumbent Darren Soto, Marcus Carter, Thomas Chalifoux, and Justin Story are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 9 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Darren Soto (D)
		Marcus Carter (R)
		Thomas Chalifoux (R)
	Submit photo	Justin Story (R)

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	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.
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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:

• Thomas Chalifoux
• Marcus Carter
• Justin Story

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:

• Justin Story
• Marcus Carter
• Thomas Chalifoux

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Darren Soto	Democratic Party	$320,150	$153,519	$180,749	As of June 30, 2025
Marcus Carter	Republican Party	$0	$0	$1,279	As of January 11, 2025
Thomas Chalifoux	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Justin Story	Republican Party	$4,176	$1,512	$2,664	As of June 30, 2025
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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 9th 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 Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic
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 9th Congressional District election, 2024

Florida's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 20 Republican primary)

Florida's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 20 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 9

Incumbent Darren Soto defeated Thomas Chalifoux and Marcus Carter in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 9 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darren Soto (D)	55.1	178,785
		Thomas Chalifoux (R)	42.6	138,076
		Marcus Carter (No Party Affiliation)	2.3	7,412

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 324,273
= 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. Incumbent Darren Soto advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 9.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 9

Thomas Chalifoux defeated John Quiñones and Jose Castillo in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 9 on August 20, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Chalifoux	49.6	12,662
		John Quiñones	25.7	6,557
		Jose Castillo	24.7	6,294

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 25,513
= 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

• Angel Rivera (R)
• Adianis Morales (R)
• Angel Coba (R)
• Lateresa Jones (R)

2022

See also: Florida's 9th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 9

Incumbent Darren Soto defeated Scotty Moore in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 9 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darren Soto (D)	53.6	108,541
		Scotty Moore (R)	46.4	93,827

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 202,368
= 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

• Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr. (Independent Party)

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Darren Soto advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 9.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr. (D)
• Kevin Parker (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 9

Scotty Moore defeated Jose Castillo, Adianis Morales, and Sergio Ortiz in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 9 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scotty Moore	55.9	16,971
		Jose Castillo	24.8	7,537
		Adianis Morales	13.1	3,969
		Sergio Ortiz	6.3	1,900

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,377
= 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

• Becky E. Hites (R)
• Sam Farber (R)
• Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr. (R)
• Bill Olson (R)
• Alycia Barnard (R)
• Daniel Anthony (R)

2020

See also: Florida's 9th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 9

Incumbent Darren Soto defeated Bill Olson and Clay Hill in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 9 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darren Soto (D)	56.0	240,724
		Bill Olson (R)	44.0	188,889
	Submit photo	Clay Hill (No Party Affiliation) (Write-in)	0.0	25

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 429,638
= 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

• Edgar Hernandez Reyes (Unaffiliated)

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Darren Soto advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 9.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr. (D)
• Alan Grayson (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 9

Bill Olson defeated Christopher Wright, Jose Castillo, and Sergio Ortiz in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 9 on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bill Olson	48.6	20,751
		Christopher Wright	22.7	9,677
		Jose Castillo	20.1	8,595
		Sergio Ortiz	8.6	3,680

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 42,703
= 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.

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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