Democrat Emily Gregory wins Special Election for HD 87 in Palm Beach County

Emily Gregory is poised to flip House District 87 in Palm Beach County blue in an upset victory. With most votes totaled, she held a lead outside the recount margin. It marks the first time a Democrat has won there this century.

Gregory led with 51.17% of the vote Tuesday to Republican Jon Maples’ 48.83% in a race where controversies arose for both candidates in the leadup to Election Day.

She appears likely to fill a seat Republican Mike Caruso left vacant in August, when he left for an appointed job as Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller.

The extended vacancy became a defining issue in the race itself. Nearly two months passed before Gov. Ron DeSantis called the election in late October, a delay that prompted Gregory to sue, arguing voters were being denied representation.

While the lawsuit became moot once DeSantis scheduled the contest, the lag meant residents had no voice in Tallahassee during the 2026 Legislative Session.

The race in days leading up to the Special Election garnered national attention, thanks to a perception it was the most likely red-to-blue flip among three legislative Special Elections in Florida on Tuesday. It also drew press when Trump cast his ballot through the mail.

HD 87 — which runs up the coast through Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno Beach and Hypoluxo — has trended reliably Republican in recent cycles. Caruso won re-election by 19 percentage points in 2024, when President Donald Trump carried the district by roughly 9 points.

Both Gregory and Maples advanced to the General Election after overwhelming Primary wins in January, each securing more than 80% of the vote in their respective contests.

Maples, a 43-year-old financial planner and former Lake Clarke Shores Council member who was an All-American athlete at Palm Beach Atlantic University, ran a campaign closely aligned with Republican priorities at both the state and national levels.

He leaned on his local government experience and community involvement, including leadership roles with Families First of Palm Beach County and other civic organizations.

His platform focused on cutting taxes and government spending, reducing regulatory burdens, expanding private-sector job growth and advancing school choice policies.

He also embraced a broader GOP push to eliminate or significantly reduce property taxes and sought to draw contrasts with Gregory on education policy, particularly around teachers’ unions.

Maples headed to Election Day with a sizable financial and institutional edge. Through mid-February, he raised $290,000 in outside contributions, which he added to $14,000 in self-loans through his campaign account and political committee, Friends of Jon Maples.

His haul grew further to $440,000, he told POLITICO, which reported that Maples’ spending on digital and TV ads had nearly topped $100,000 in the election’s home stretch.

Maples’ campaign also benefited from significant outside support, including roughly $184,000 in in-kind assistance from the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee (FHRCC).

His endorsement list reflects that backing. Trump, Attorney General James Uthmeier and a slew of GOP state lawmakers that includes Florida Speaker-designate Sam Garrison and state Reps. Anne Gerwig, Jon Snyder and “MAGA” Meg Weinberger are backing Maples, as are Lake Worth Beach Commissioner Mimi May and former state Rep. MaryLynn Magar.

Questions arose in recent weeks regarding his residency, with reporting this month noting his listed home sat outside HD 87 and that he’d registered to vote at an in-district apartment in January.

He has since said he and his family bought and moved into a new home in Jupiter within the district’s bounds.

Under Florida law, candidates must only live in the district they seek to represent by the time they are sworn in — which, in this case, is expected between April 1 and April 4.

Gregory, a 40-year-old South Florida native and first-time candidate, framed her campaign around affordability and local quality-of-life concerns.

She grew up in nearby Stuart and today owns and operates a small Jupiter-based fitness center for pregnant and postpartum women. She is also an Army spouse.

Her platform centered on increasing public education funding, expanding access to health care and addressing rising property insurance and housing costs.

During her campaign, she drew a sharp distinction with Republicans on tax policy, opposing efforts to eliminate property taxes, which she argued would shift the burden onto renters through higher sales taxes and local fees.

At the same time, Gregory signaled openness to more targeted relief, such as exemptions for first-time homebuyers.

Gregory criticized the GOP-led Legislature’s focus on curbing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, arguing that such efforts eschew more pressing economic challenges facing residents.

Her campaign reported raising about $176,000 directly, supplemented by roughly $82,000 in in-kind support. She has said her total fundraising reached $325,000 with additional help from a political committee.

Her endorsements include U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman and several local officials, as well as backing from a passel of labor groups and progressive organizations. She also received a boost from a recent virtual fundraiser hosted by Alex Vindman, the whistleblower behind Trump’s first impeachment now running to supplant Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, and congressional candidate Pia Dandiya, who is running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Mast.

Gregory’s campaign drew criticism this week for a political text attacking Maples that some argued featured racially charged imagery and misleading claims about his residency and voting record.

The message was linked to a political committee with ties to Gregory’s campaign vendor, raising questions about coordination.

Democrats characterized the HD 87 race as a “rare flip opportunity,” even as Republicans continue to hold a significant statewide registration advantage — a 1.48 million-voter edge statewide as of last month.

Across Palm Beach County, Democrats have a narrow but shrinking voter lead of about 13,000.