Gilbert wins election to succeed Florida’s Wilson in House

Democrats easily retained their hold on Florida’s 24th District on Tuesday when Oliver Gilbert, a local county official, defeated Republican Tedora Brown in the race to replace retiring Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) projects.

The contest was never close. The district, which encompasses parts of northern Miami, consists overwhelmingly of Black and Hispanic voters, who tend to support Democrats. The Republicans’ redistricting efforts this year altered the lines of the 24th District a bit but without making it competitive. Former Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district by 39 points in 2024.

Gilbert took 83.8 percent of the vote to Brown’s 17.2 percent, with 61 percent of the vote reported by DDHQ as of 7:21 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

Gilbert’s victory in the deep blue district was all but assured after his primary win in August, when he bested a crowded Democratic primary field that included Kendrick Meek Jr., whose father and grandmother had both represented the district in the House.

Gilbert, Miami-Dade County commissioner and a former mayor of Miami Gardens, got a big boost in the form of an endorsement from Wilson, a former educator who has served in Congress for 16 years. Wilson, who will turn 84 on Thursday, announced her retirement in May, saying it was time to pass the torch to a younger generation of lawmakers.

“Even leather wears out,” she said at the time.

Brown, a self-described businesswoman and real estate developer, had initially run this year as a Republican in Illinois’s 11th District, which is represented by Democratic Rep. Bill Foster. She lost the GOP primary with less than 6 percent of the vote before jumping to Florida to vie for Wilson’s seat.

Brown’s campaign was dogged by allegations that she and her husband had skimmed almost $750,000 in COVID-19 relief funding for personal purchases, including items at Tiffany & Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue. Her husband pleaded guilty, while Brown is fighting the charges.