Palm Beach County voters will have a particularly loud voice in determining which party controls half of Capitol Hill.
Two political newcomers, an incumbent congressman and a former mayor are competing in the pair of congressional districts that, combined, cover a wide swath of the Palm Beaches.
Congressional District 22 straddles a broad swath of lower peninsula Florida, including western Palm Beach County. It is an open seat being sought by Republican Casey Askar and Democrat Pia Dandiya.
Congressional District 25 extends from eastern Palm Beach County to as far south as the Miami Beach area. U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who now represents a different congressional district, is seeking that post and is being challenged by Republican Scott Singer,
a former Boca Raton mayor.
An outsized role for Palm Beach County electorate?
The two contests are among roughly two-dozen national House contests that will determine which party wins a controlling majority in the U.S. House. Both races cover large portions of Palm Beach County, where President Donald Trump resides, and feature Republicans endorsed by him.
Currently, Republicans hold a slim four-seat majority, 218 to 214, with three vacancies in the U.S. House. The GOP needs to at least hold serve on Nov. 3, while Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win the majority.
As such, the Palm Beaches appear to be the only county where residents could decide two of the 21 congressional races seen as key to U.S. House control.
Florida’s newly redrawn congressional map, which includes Districts 22 and 25, adds another obstacle. Both districts supported Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago residence and club are in a different district, in the 2024 presidential election, despite voting for former President Joe Biden four years earlier.
The four candidates fighting for the two seats enter the final weeks ahead of Nov. 3 vote counting bringing very different backgrounds and approaches to winning.
Four candidates, four different choices in pivotal congressional contests
District 22 pins two candidates who have never held office against each other.
Pia Dandiya, a Democrat and former school principal with some experience in the White House, has centered her campaign on lowering the cost of living and health care.
“My priorities on the campaign trail are not blue issues or red issues — they are red, white and blue issues,” said Dandiya, who describes herself as a centrist Democrat because she’d like to “make common sense great again,” a slogan that’s become the “unofficial tagline” of her campaign.
Dandiya has leaned on that broader appealing message and her South Florida roots throughout her campaign, raising money and building a volunteer network to reach voters across the sprawling district.
“I think we have to move forward from this moment in our country’s politics that’s so much more focused on extremism and performative politics than on making actual progress,” she said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. “I want to work with anyone, even across the aisle who is committed to solving problems.”
Her campaign reported over $2 million raised through July 29, according to the Federal Election Commission. Dandiya said more than 90% of her donors are small-dollar contributors and that more than 600 volunteers have signed up to support her campaign.
Born and raised in Palm Beach County, Dandiya also said she will focus on housing and insurance costs, prescription drugs, child care and tariffs.
“I'm a Palm Beach County girl, born and raised, and I have a lot of gratitude and pride for being from South Florida and a lot of gratitude for what this county has given me and my family and just want to continue paying it forward,” she said. “I’m feeling cautiously optimistic.”
Dandiya won approximately 69% of the vote in her Democratic primary.
Her Republican opponent, Casey Askar, from Naples, won a seven-candidate primary with approximately 31% of the vote. Askar, a Marine veteran and businessman, previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2020.
Askar did not respond to requests for comment but has billed himself as a businessman and ally of Trump — the president endorsed him in the August primary — who promises lower taxes and stronger border security. He has also proposed replacing the Affordable Care Act and requiring identification and citizenship verification for voting.
Both Jared Moskowitz and opponent Scott Singer have experience
In District 25, incumbent congressman Jared Moskowitz, who now serves in a different seat, faces former Boca Raton mayor Scott Singer.
Both candidates have years of political experience to point to, although the newly drawn district includes many voters neither has represented before.
Moskowitz, first elected to Congress in 2022, emphasized affordability as an issue he’s hammering down during campaign stops.
“I keep hearing the same thing that the American Dream is slipping away and things are unaffordable,” he told The Post. “Gas is unaffordable, groceries are unaffordable, housing has become very expensive.”
Moskowitz, who previously served in the Florida Legislature and as Florida's emergency management director during Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' first term, also promises to restore Affordable Care Act subsidies and prevent cuts to Medicare.
He also pointed to his willingness to work with Republicans and break from his own party on certain issues, leaning on the fact that he served under a GOP governor.
“When it comes time to fighting antisemitism, I've been a leading voice on that. I’ve been a leading voice on Israel, even fighting against my own party,” he said.
But Moskowitz is also facing a different electorate than the one that sent him to Congress. Only about 46% of the new district’s population comes from the old District 23, which he represents now.
His opponent, Singer, declined an interview with The Post, citing scheduling challenges but has pointed to his mayoral record as evidence he can lower costs and streamline government while working with Trump, who also endorsed him ahead of the August primary.
The attorney and three-term mayor served from 2018 to 2026 and has said during media interviews he voted seven consecutive times to reduce Boca Raton's property-tax rate.
His platform includes making Trump administration economic policies permanent and expanding federal insurance help for coastal communities exposed to flooding and windstorms.
“I am excited to serve the district where I was born, raised, and led as mayor — a time when we successfully cut taxes, red tape, and crime,” wrote Singer in an email statement to The Post. “Residents want a leader with a proven record to bring needed change to Washington."
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County voters may have a heavy say in who controls US House
