Democratic victory in Congress coexists with Republican strength in Florida

Democrats won both chambers of the U.S. Congress in the November 3 elections with a decisive contribution from Latino voters, while Florida kept its Republican governorship. National exit polls gave Democratic candidates 64 percent support among Hispanic voters, compared with 34 percent for their Republican rivals. The gap between the parties was 30 percentage points within that segment nationwide.

An Americas Society/Council of the Americas analysis calculated a double-digit shift toward Democrats compared with 2024. That momentum contributed to legislative victories and wins in the gubernatorial races in Texas, Georgia and Nevada. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa defeated Governor Greg Abbott, while James Talarico beat Ken Paxton in the contest for a U.S. Senate seat, handing Republicans two defeats in the state.

Florida produced a different outcome: Republican Byron Donalds defeated Democratic candidate David Jolly and is set to become the state's first Black governor. With 99 percent of ballots counted, Donalds had about 50 percent of the vote and Jolly had 48.7 percent. The result kept the governorship in Republican hands and extended the party's control of the statewide office after Florida's November election.

Among Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, the Republican preference was already pronounced before Election Day. In Florida International University's 2026 Cuba Poll, 68 percent said they intended to support Republican candidates for Congress. The share matched the survey's 2024 high and represented a stated intention before voting, not the final distribution of November ballots among the congressional candidates.

The survey interviewed 1,004 Cuban American adults living in Miami-Dade from September 4 through September 29. Its maximum margin of error was 3.1 percentage points. Among registered voters, party identification was distributed as follows: 53 percent considered themselves Republican, 27 percent independent and 18 percent Democratic, according to responses collected by the university before the election.

Those electoral preferences coexisted with objections to Washington's immigration policy. In the same survey, 76 percent opposed increasing deportations of Cubans without criminal records; among Republican participants, opposition stood at 63 percent. Another 87 percent wanted the U.S. government to resume processing immigration benefits for Cubans living in the country. The cost of living and expectations for Cuba were also among the issues debated before the vote.