Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Tampa special election news: Democrat flips Florida State Senate District 14

 
Election results for 2022 and 2024 and district map:  Ballotpedia
Election result for 2026:  270 to Win
Headline:  The Downballot, 3/24/2026

David Nir reports:
In the second massive upset of the night for Florida Democrats, Brian Nathan, a Navy veteran and union official, flipped a state Senate seat that became vacant after Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped its previous occupant to serve as his lieutenant governor. 
Nathan overcame a huge financial disadvantage to beat Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow and win the Tampa-area 14th District. Nathan was leading by a margin of 50.2 to 49.8 when Tomkow conceded. 
Earlier in the evening, Democrat Emily Gregory won a separate special election for a state House seat in Palm Beach County that includes Donald Trump’s seaside lair of Mar-a-Lago.\ 
DeSantis himself put the 14th District in peril for the GOP when he elevated Sen. Jay Collins to replace his previous second-in-command last August. Though the district had voted for Donald Trump by a 53-46 margin in 2024, four years earlier, it had gone for Joe Biden 51-47. On Tuesday night, it returned to form.  [emphasis added]

Other panic-inducing GOP special elections:
2026
Florida special election: House seat that includes Mar-a-Lago is up for grabs.  (2/18)


January-April 2025


Trump humiliated in Florida as Democrat flips his home district

 
Election results for 2022 and 2024 and district map:  Ballotpedia
Election result for 2026:  270 to Win
Headline:  The Downballot, 3/24/2026

David Nir reports:
Florida Democrat Emily Gregory scored a major upset on Tuesday night, flipping the legislative district that includes Donald Trump’s waterfront lair of Mar-a-Lago. 
Gregory, a first-time candidate who runs a fitness business serving pregnant and postpartum women, defeated her Republican opponent, financial planner Jon Maples, by a 51-49 margin to win the 87th House District in Palm Beach County. 
The race for this slice of the South Florida beachfront was both caused by and delayed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appointed one of his few loyalists in the state legislature, Rep. Mike Caruso, as Palm Beach County clerk to fill a vacancy last August. 
As he often has in the past, though, DeSantis refused to call a special election, very possibly because he feared how it might turn out. Only after Gregory filed a lawsuit did he finally act, nine weeks after Caruso resigned.  [emphasis added]


Other panic-inducing GOP special elections:
2026
Florida special election: House seat that includes Mar-a-Lago is up for grabs.  (2/18)


January-April 2025

West Virginia reports case of bird flu in backyard chickens

 
No mention of how many birds were infected.  Or how many cases might be going unreported in one of the poorest states in the nation.

Headline:  WOWK, 3/23/2026

Jessica Patterson and Mitchell Hoy reports:
According to the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA), this is only the sixth time bird flu, or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been detected in a flock of domestic backyard birds in the Mountain State since the global outbreak began in early 2022.

Related posts:
March 21-25:

March 16-20:

March 11-15, 2025

March 6-10, 2026.  

March 1-5, 2026

February 20-28,2026
SHOCKER!!  Dead birds found in Ohio gated community.  Bird flu suspected.  (2/21)

February 10-19, 2026
February 1-9, 2026

January 21-31, 2026

January 11-20, 2026
New York tells resident don't touch those dead birds.  (1/17)

January 1-10, 2026
Bird flu strain of avian influenza:  "The picture has grown darker and stranger than most would have imagined".  (1/8)
Bird flu reported on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. (1/8)Dozens of vultures die of bird flu in North Carolina.  (1/8)

December 16-31, 2025

December 1-15, 2025

November 15-30, 2025

November 1-15, 2025

October 2025

September 2025

April-August 2025