Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (R) on Tuesday beat incumbent Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) in an acrimonious race for a key battleground district.
The Associated Press called the race at 10:10 p.m. EST.
Gimenez, a county executive who began the race as a relatively moderate Republican, moved aggressively to the right to align with President Trump.
The move paid off as the national party committees and conservative super PACs pumped money into the race, generating a barrage of negative ads against both candidates.
Outside spending on negative ads alone surpassed $18 million, with the national party committees and other outside groups spending $10 million against Mucarsel-Powell, and $8.6 million against Gimenez.
The outside spending helped make up for Gimenez’s fundraising deficit — Mucarsel-Powell outraised him by a 3-to-1 margin.