Florida Congressman Retains Seat by 1,704 Votes

Mario Díaz-Balart is projected to win the race for Florida's 26th Congressional District with 114,578 votes. This total represents 49.9% of the 229,804 ballots counted by NBC News. The network released the projection on Monday, marking the end of a closely watched contest.

Nicole Locklin, the Democratic challenger, received 112,874 votes. Her share of the total was 49.1%, creating a margin of just 1,704 votes. An independent candidate, Deborah Meidinger Hosey, secured 2,352 votes, or 1% of the total.

The margin of victory places the race near the threshold for an automatic machine recount. Florida law requires a recount when the difference between candidates is 0.5% or less. Díaz-Balart's lead stands at approximately 0.77 percentage points, which keeps him above that requirement. The Republican Party of Florida congratulated Díaz-Balart in a post on X, calling the win well deserved.

Locklin has not conceded the race. Following the projection, she stated on social media that the campaign is not over. To overtake Díaz-Balart, she would need to secure roughly 99.9% of the approximately 1,800 remaining ballots yet to be counted. Alina García, the supervisor of elections for Miami-Dade County, noted that provisional ballots and mail-in votes with signature issues are still under review.

García indicated that a change in the final outcome is unlikely given the current numbers. She described the prospect of a flip as less than probable. The preliminary results from election day showed Díaz-Balart maintaining a narrow lead over Locklin even with 99% of the expected votes tabulated. The final count will determine if the margin shrinks enough to trigger further scrutiny.