Democrats Pledge $20M to Flip Florida Seats, With Brian Mast Among Targets

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared Thursday that Democrats are putting $20 million into Florida congressional races, naming Rep. Brian Mast of Palm City among the Republican incumbents the party intends to unseat in 2026.

Jeffries, speaking at a media conference, said the spend is part of $272 million the House Majority PAC has committed to television advertising nationwide. Of the Florida total, more than $9 million is targeted to Miami media markets, $6.6 million to Tampa and $3.9 million to Orlando. No market-specific dollar figure was cited for the Treasure Coast.

For Mast — who represents Florida's 21st Congressional District, covering Martin and St. Lucie counties — the announcement marks the second time in recent months Democrats have publicly targeted his seat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already designated four Florida GOP-held districts as "Districts in Play," and the House Majority PAC said in December 2024 it would recruit candidates against Mast alongside Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills and Maria Elvira Salazar.

"That's our Democratic gift to Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republicans, who he is putting in jeopardy," Jeffries said, framing the investment as a direct response to DeSantis's expected push for new congressional maps during a special session beginning Monday.

DeSantis dismissed the announcement. "Please, be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I'll put you up in the Florida Governor's mansion. We'll take you fishing, we'll do all this stuff," the governor said Wednesday in Jacksonville.

The special session was originally called in January in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which DeSantis has argued could invalidate minority-access districts and require a new congressional map ahead of the 2026 election cycle. That ruling had not been issued as of Thursday. The Governor's Office had not yet released its proposed maps. Any new map must comply with Florida's constitutional Fair Districts provisions.

The maneuvering has rattled some Republicans beyond those already targeted. Reps. Greg Steube and Daniel Webster, neither currently on Democratic target lists, have expressed concern that aggressive remapping could inadvertently put their own seats in play, according to public statements.

For Treasure Coast residents in Martin and St. Lucie counties, the stakes are direct: Mast's FL-21 seat is a named target in a nine-figure national ad campaign, and the congressional map that DeSantis unveils Monday could redraw the district boundaries that determine who represents them in Washington.

The Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, expected before the end of the current term, will likely determine whether DeSantis's maps survive legal challenge and whether the $20 million gamble pays off.

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