Two Republicans and one Democrat qualified to run in an upcoming special election for the District 38 seat of the Florida House of Representatives.

 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered the special election on January 25, 2019, after he appointed state Rep. Danny Burgess (R) as executive director of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Burgess was first elected to the District 38 seat in 2014.

 

Randy Maggard and David McCallister are competing in the Republican primary on April 9, 2019. The winner of that contest will face Kelly Smith (D) in the general election on June 18, 2019.

 

Two other Florida districts will also hold special elections in June: District 7, where incumbent Halsey Beshears (R) was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and District 97, where incumbent Jared Moskowitz (D) was appointed Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

 

Florida is currently a Republican trifecta, which occurs when a single party has control of the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature. Following the November 2018 general election, Republicans held a 73-47 majority in the Florida House of Representatives.