Dan Green held a narrow lead late Tuesday in the Republican primary for Florida’s 9th Congressional District, but the race remained too close to call.
With nearly all votes counted, Green had 25.4% of the vote, compared with 24.4% for Ben Butler, an Okeechobee farmer and small business owner. Fewer than 600 votes separated the two candidates.
Thomas E. Chalifoux Jr., the Republican nominee against Soto in 2024, was in third place with about 20.3%.
The winner of the seven-candidate Republican primary will face Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, who had no Democratic primary opponent, in the Nov. 3 general election.
Glades County part of a key congressional battleground
The race is especially important for Glades County this year. Under Florida’s new congressional map, Glades has been moved into the 9th District, which has become one of the Republican Party’s top opportunities to defeat a Democratic incumbent this fall.
The old district was centered around Osceola County and the Orlando area. The new district stretches much farther south and includes Glades, Highlands, Okeechobee and Indian River counties. Soto has said nearly 60% of his previous district remains, but the new territory has made the seat much more Republican.
Under the new boundaries, more than 59% of voters in the district backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while less than 41% voted for Kamala Harris. Under the previous boundaries, the district leaned Democratic, and Soto won reelection in 2024 with about 55% of the vote.
Glades County voters strongly favored Butler, who owns a family ranch in Okeechobee. About 35% of the county’s 6,765 eligible voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary. According to unofficial results from the Glades County Supervisor of Elections, Butler received about 51% of the Republican vote for the 9th District, while Green received about 18%.