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Jose A. Iglesias | El Nuevo Herald | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Surrounded by a small group of family and supporters, Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, left, announces she is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, outside the West Perrine Health Center in Miami on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017.
Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has won her bid to unseat Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo in Florida’s 26th District, according to NBC News.
Overall, Democrats won the House on Tuesday night, according to an NBC News projection.
Mucarsel-Powell’s expected victory comes against one of just 23 Republican House members who represent a district won in 2016 by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of State bested President Donald Trump by more than 16 percentage points in the district represented by Cuban-American Curbelo.
Because of that, Democrats had put a special emphasis on winning the district, which runs from southwest Miami-Dade County down to the Florida Keys.
Mucarsel-Powell, who was born in Ecuador, is a former associate dean at Florida International University who had also worked at nonprofits. Her candidacy got a boost when former President Barack Obama endorsed her.
During the campaign, Mucarsel-Powell highlighted Curbelo’s support for a Republican bill last year that sought to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The 26th District has seen increased rates of health-care coverage as a result of Obamacare that have outpaced such gains elsewhere.
But Curbelo had kept the race close, in part by distancing himself from his fellow Republican Trump. Curbelo has said he voted for a third-party candidate in 2016 instead of for Trump.
