Florida Democrat Josh Weil, who lost a special election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District but raised a stunning amount of cash, announced he is running in the state’s special Senate election.
Weil said he believes he can run on anti-Trump sentiment and raise $100 million to defeat incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) or other candidates.
“I think there’s a really big opportunity here in 2026,” Weil told the Daytona Beach News-Journal in a Tuesday interview. “We just saw this past weekend with the (No Kings) marches how many people are unhappy, are demanding change. … We’ve seen these actions all throughout our campaign harming people in regards to cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, veterans benefits and now we’re seeing with the ICE raids and immigration, just a whole other level of discomfort with these things coming from the American government.”
He ran for the House in a special election earlier this year after former Rep. Mike Waltz was tapped to serve in the Trump administration and left a vacancy. Weil raised around $10 million in that election, but lost to now-Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL).
Still, he swung the seat to the left by 10 points compared to Waltz’s win there in the 2024 general election.
“We built what I believe is the strongest fundraising infrastructure in the country right now during our last campaign,” Weil told the Florida Phoenix. “I believe that we have the opportunity and the ability to raise a lot of money, and that’s what Florida needs. That’s what the Florida Democratic Party needs. Someone can take that money and invest across the state.”
In 2026, a special election will be held to fill the seat of former Sen. Marco Rubio, who was also tapped to serve in the Trump administration as secretary of state.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) appointed Moody, a former Florida attorney general, to fill Rubio’s Senate seat until the election can be held. Moody could draw a primary opponent, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned from Congress to serve in the Trump administration before his nomination was pulled, previously floated the idea of running.
Weil previously ran for the Senate in 2022 before dropping out when former Rep. Val Demings emerged as the prominent Democratic challenger to Rubio.