Josh Weil, a Democrat who raised $14 million in a Florida congressional special election race, has announced his candidacy for senator.
Weil is challenging Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Marco Rubio was appointed secretary of state by President Donald Trump.
“I’ll be everywhere,” Weil, the first Democrat to file for the 2026 race, told Politico.
In the special election for the 6th Congressional District, Weil, a math and science teacher, vastly outraised Republican challenger Randy Fine, though Fine defeated Weil by 14 points in a district Trump by won more than 30 points.
“We built a massive fundraising infrastructure,” Weil told Politico. “We firmly believe that we have the largest data bank and fundraising infrastructure in the country right now, and so applying the practices that we did with the data we have, at the level we did, is going to bear out pretty consistent results.”
Weil told Politico he believes Trump’s poll numbers will fall, giving his campaign a boost.
“By this time next year we could see Ashley Moody trying to distance herself from Trump to save her political campaign,” Weil said.
Moody has raised $1.2 million through her joint fundraising committee and raised $400,000 in her campaign account, Politico reported.
Her campaign team includes Chris LaCivita, who worked on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and pollster Tony Fabrizio.
Evan Power, the Florida Republican Party chair, dismissed Weil’s chances in a statement.
“He lost to a Republican a few months ago by 14 points. Florida Republicans consistently reject the left-wing policies he holds dear,” Power said. ” We stand for law and order, economic freedom, the Second Amendment, and American security and sovereignty — values diametrically opposed to Weil’s.”
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