Jesse Scheckner
Republican Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman clinched a second term representing House District 91 in Palm Beach County, defeating a better-funded Democratic challenger who aimed to flip the seat back to blue.
With early votes fully counted, mail-in votes partially tallied and all 72 precincts reporting, Gossett-Seidman had 54.5% of the vote to repel Jay Shooster in the red-shifting district.
“I’m very happy to continue to serve the great people of District 91. I plan to continue my work on clean water, condos and insurance, and other issues important to them,” Gossett-Seidman told Florida Politics by text.
“The people listened and they voted! I’m grateful to all friends, neighbors and local residents who believed in me and supported my campaign. Our Boca Raton area is an amazing place to live and work and I’m honored to do the job. It’s not hard to do the right things.”
Shooster said in a statement that he is grateful for the “overwhelming commitment” his supporters showed him throughout his campaign.
“Although tonight didn’t end as I hoped, I am deeply proud of the campaign we built together. From advocating for a woman’s right to choose to championing sensible gun safety laws, we fought for values that matter deeply to Floridians. Our campaign gave a voice to those seeking a future where our rights are respected, our communities are safe, and our government is responsive to the people it serves,” he said.
“I am grateful for every volunteer, every donor, and every voter who stood with us and shared in our vision for a better Florida. While we may not be headed to the State House this time, my commitment to these issues is unwavering. I look forward to staying in this process and continuing to fight for the principles we hold dear.”
The race was thought to be among the most closely contested House contests this cycle. Florida Future Leaders, a student-led political committee, targeted HD 91 as one of three districts it hoped to flip.
Shooster, 34, spent big to turn the tide in his first run at public office. By Oct. 29, he had poured close to $850,000 into the race — well over three times what Gossett-Seidman raised in the cycle.
He went on the attack with messaging, particularly about the incumbent’s record on abortion and firearms. And his hypervigilance against campaign interloping may have revealed his opponent was nervous about chances.
Gossett-Seidman, a 71-year-old media pro and former Highland Beach Town Council member, had strong accomplishments on which to run. She passed eight bills in her first two years in Tallahassee, including a bipartisan measure to unseal grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case that attracted national headlines.
She passed a bill to protect voters from errantly having their voting registration changed while renewing their driver’s licenses and another bipartisan bill called the “Safe Waterways Act” to streamline contamination reporting. DeSantis vetoed the latter.
Gossett-Seidman also secured $12.3 million in appropriations for HD 91.
Shooster, a consumer protections and animal welfare lawyer, was new to running for elected office but hardly a political neophyte, having volunteered with the Anti-Defamation League and the Moms Demand Action gun control group.
He ran a pro-abortion rights, pro-gun control campaign. He said Florida needs to “get creative” in attracting insurers back to the state while lowering the cost of housing and other common expenditures. His platform also prioritized LGBTQ protections, expanding voter access and environmental safeguards.
Florida should “lead the way,” he said, in publicly investing in technology, including artificial intelligence and “alternative proteins” that replace traditional animal-based products. Shooster is an artificial intelligence policy fellow at Florida Atlantic University.
He criticized Gossett-Seidman for her comment supporting Florida’s prior ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which included no exceptions for rape or incest, and for backing the state’s concessions to insurers.
Notably, Gossett-Seidman voted “no” on the state’s current six-week abortion ban.
Shooster also attacked her in ads and social media posts for voting in favor of a law allowing the concealed carry of firearms without a permit. Gossett-Seidman defended her vote, arguing that the only people the permit requirement inconvenienced were law-abiding citizens.
Gossett-Seidman raised close to $250,000 through October and had about $40,000 left heading into November. An overwhelming share of her contributions came from Florida residents, companies and political interests, most of which are based on Palm Beach County.
Many big businesses gave to her campaign, including Florida Crystals, U.S. Sugar, HCA Healthcare, Walt Disney World, Florida Blue, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Comcast, Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light.
Shooster, who grew up in Broward, raised $895,000 and spent all but $48,000 of it by Oct. 29. A significant chunk of his gains came from out-of-state donors, many of them members of the effective altruism movement with which he’s long been involved. Effective altruism has been billed as a more data-driven approach to improving the world, and many of its adherents pursue lucrative professions in order to donate large portions of their earnings to charities, political causes and candidates based on the goal of maximizing their positive impact.
HD 91 covers a southern portion of Palm Beach County including Boca Raton and parts of Highland Beach and West Boca. Previously a dependable Democratic stronghold, the district grew more conservative after redistricting in 2022.
Gossett-Seidman won that year by 3.5 percentage points on a red wave that delivered the district to Gov. Ron DeSantis by 9.2 points, according to MCI Maps.
Since then, the district has shifted even more rightward and today, Republicans account for 35% of the district’s voter base and Democrats make up 32%, with third- and no-party voters comprising the remainder.
