Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) is projected to hold his Republican-leaning seat after fending off a challenge by former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer in Florida’s 25th District.
Florida Republicans redrew their congressional districts to give themselves an advantage in the midterms, but Moskowitz leaned into his reputation as a bipartisan collaborator, supporter of Israel and opponent of antisemitism within the Democratic Party. It worked.
“This district was re-drawn to defeat me. Voters had other plans,” Moskowitz said in a victory statement. “I stood up to the extremes on the left that targeted me in the primary and to the extremes on the right that spent more money against me than anyone in Florida history.”
Moskowitz’s win is an important step for Democrats in their quest to retake control of the House of Representatives. Amid voter frustration over high prices made worse by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran, his district was one of only a few that Republicans had any hope of flipping.
The South Florida district is just a short drive from Trump’s home in Palm Beach, and national Republicans targeted Moskowitz as part of their “MAGA Majority” program. It didn’t work.
After defeating a socialist challenger in the Democratic primary in August who criticized Moskowitz for his support of Israel, Moskowitz made Israel a major part of his general election pitch in the heavily Jewish district. He focused some of his energy on Hasan Piker, a socialist Twitch streamer reviled mostly by Republicans for his anti-Israel politics and apparent admiration for Mao Zedong, a former leader of the Chinese Communist Party.
“I’m standing up for Jews in America, who he has specifically targeted,” Moskowitz told HuffPost in August. “I am standing up for good Americans who hear him talk about us losing to the Soviet Union and that we deserved 9/11, and him dressing up as a murderous dictator that killed 50 million people. I’m standing up for all Americans that love this country.”
As for Singer, Moskowitz mocked him as “the Masked Singer” and said nobody knew what he stood for. Singer touted tax cuts he enacted as mayor of Boca Raton and pledged to ban stock trading by lawmakers while accusing Moskowitz of being a major offender. Moskowitz sought to cut into Singer’s Boca Raton bona fides by pointing to a failed Singer initiative for a development that would have affected a local park dedicated to World War II veterans.
“Scott Singer tried to turn that park over to private developers,” an elderly veteran said in an ad paid for by a Democratic super PAC. “He’s looking out for himself. Singer should never be in Congress.”