Doge Cuts Are Testing Some Conservative Voters' Faith In Special Election For Matt Gaetz's Old Seat

As the Trump administration forges ahead with its dramatic reshaping of the federal government , voters in a northwest Florida congressional district that's home to thousands of veterans will be among the first to put the president's agenda to an electoral test.

The state's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis , a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump , is widely expected to win the special election in Florida's 1st Congressional District on April 1 and help pad Republicans' narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. The seat became vacant with the resignation of former Rep. Matt Gaetz in a heavily Republican district.

In a longshot bid, Democrat Gay Valimont is seeking to hinge the race on the Department of Government Efficiency Service's push to fire federal workers and dismantle federal agencies . A win for her would defy decades of political convention and could send loud signals about how the president's aggressive second term in the White House is playing with voters across the political spectrum.

Florida's 1st Congressional District stretches across the state's western Panhandle region and is known for its sugar-sand beaches and sprawling military installations - including the country's largest Air Force base. The district is home to more veterans than any other congressional district in the country and reelected Gaetz to a fifth term in 2024 by a more than 30-point margin over Valimont.

But as Trump's executive orders and the slash-and-burn tactics of billionaire Elon Musk 's DOGE take aim at federal agencies that serve the region's veterans, the faith of some of the district's conservative voters is being tested.