Dem ousts GOP’s Curbelo from Florida House seat

Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell defeated Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) on Tuesday, delivering her party a key win and ousting one of the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbents.

Her victory in Florida’s 26th Congressional District is likely to be seen as a strong indicator of Democratic success on Election Day.

The district, which stretches from the Miami suburbs down to Key West, is the kind of area that Democrats are hoping to make gains in this year – diverse with a large number of suburban voters.

{mosads}Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton carried the district by 16 points in 2016, and election handicappers rated the race between the two-term congressman and Mucarsel-Powell as a “toss-up.”

Mucarsel-Powell, a former university official who emigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador as a teenager, hit Curbelo for his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his support last year for the GOP’s tax cut package.

Unlike many in his party who have aligned themselves closely with President Trump, Curbelo touted himself as a moderate, publicly breaking with the president on divisive issues like immigration. 

Public polls regularly showed an ultra-tight race in the Florida district.

A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted late last month put Mucarsel-Powell ahead by 1 point, while a survey by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research conducted days earlier put Curbelo ahead by 1 point.