Republican Byron Donalds wins House race in Florida

Florida state Rep. Byron Donalds (R) is projected to win his bid to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Francis Rooney and represent a Republican stronghold in southwestern Florida.

The Associated Press called the race for Donalds at 7:18 p.m. EST.

Donalds is projected to have defeated Democratic nominee Cindy Banyai, a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, in a race he was heavily favored to win. He will fill a seat held by Rooney since 2017.

Donalds won a tight nine-person primary race for the Republican nomination in August by less than 1 percentage point. He has served in the Florida House of Representatives since 2016.