MIAMI — Incumbent Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz beat democratic socialist Oliver Larkin, indicating that Florida Democrats are not quite comfortable leaning left of center.

Moskowitz will go up against a Republican opponent for the competitive District 25 seat in the November election. The coastal district includes cities in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Aventura, North Miami Beach, Surfside and Miami Beach. The Republican race has not yet been called.

Most pre-election polls showed Moskowitz, a moderate Democrat who has held his seat since 2023, beating Larkin, a progressive union organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America organization. Moskowitz originally represented District 23, which was blown up after Florida lawmakers redrew the state’s congressional maps in the spring.

While progressive and DSA-backed candidates won key races in New York, Colorado and Michigan, democratic socialists have historically struggled to gain footing in South Florida, where many Latin American and Caribbean transplants are skeptical of the left.

Tuesday’s race indicated that while South Florida Democratic voters were still comfortable in the center, they could be open to new candidates. Moskowitz won handedly, but not by a landslide. He beat Larkin by about 13 percentage points.

Moskowitz was twice appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, once as the head of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management during the pandemic and again to the Broward County Commission. He touts his experience working with Republicans as an asset to win support from independent and moderate Republican voters in a district that was redrawn to favor Republican candidates. On the campaign trail, Larkin attacked Moskowitz as a “DeSantis Democrat” who leaned too far to the right.

But the main flashpoint that appeared in the Moskowitz-Larkin race was support for Israel. Larkin, an anti-Zionist who wants to end U.S. military aid to Israel, faced the challenge of convincing a generally pro-Israel voter base to pick him over AIPAC-backed Moskowitz, one of the most vocally pro-Israel Democrats in Congress. Notably, just days before Election Day, a political rally featuring Larkin and other South Florida progressive candidates had to relocate twice in 24 hours after two Broward venues backed out of hosting the event due to intense social media backlash and accusations of antisemitism.

Larkin, whose grassroots campaign made national headlines in recent weeks, often criticized Moskowitz for refusing to debate him or participate in joint interviews with local news organizations. Moskowitz previously told the Sun Sentinel in a letter he did not want to engage “with a candidate who has embraced the support of individuals and organizations that have repeatedly trafficked in antisemitic rhetoric and hostility toward the Jewish community.”

While Larkin certainly gained momentum among Gen Z voters and visibility on social media, à la New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, it ultimately wasn’t enough to unseat Moskowitz.

But if last year’s anti-DOGE protests are any indication, Democratic voters’ enthusiasm for Moskowitz is a mixed bag. Broward activists sharply criticized Moskowitz because he was the first Democrat to join Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency caucus.

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