Booker spoke to reporters about his motivation and how he felt after speaking on the Senate floor for 25 hours and 8 minutes, including some of the strategies he used to keep from leaving the floor for things like bathroom breaks.
GOP results in Florida's 1st District also lagged behind the party's 2024 baseline
NBC News has projected Republican candidate Jimmy Patronis will win the House seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. He won't win the district by as much as former Rep. Matt Gaetz did in November.
With 97% of the votes in, Patronis leads with 57% of the vote and 96,087 ballots, with Democratic candidate Gay Valimont trailing with 42% and 71,146 votes.
In 2024, Gaetz won the district with 66% and 274,108 votes.
It’s a pattern similar to Republican Rep.-elect Randy Fine’s results in Florida’s 6th District, marking a regression for the GOP candidates, as Patronis lags upward of 10 points behind Gaetz in some counties.
NBC News’ Steve Kornacki looks at the numbers in the special congressional election in Florida, where Republicans are projected to win both House seats but where Democrats may be showing some gains compared with previous elections.
GOP win in Florida seat shows limits of special election political gravity
Tonight’s win for Fine, in a district Trump carried by 30 points in November, shows the limits of political gravity — that is, just how much a political party can overperform in a low-turnout special election.
Republicans were sweating this seat because Fine was on pace to win it by a far smaller margin than Trump did last year, and all indications appear that Fine is running well behind Trump. But the reason it never became a five-alarm fire was that there’s a difference between a significant Democratic overperformance and the kind of bottom-falling-out situation that would have been needed to flip the seat.
The only times we’ve seen a special election flip in a seat this safe were in 2017 and 2018, when Alabama Democrat Doug Jones won a Senate race in a state Trump had just won by 28 points, and, a few months later, Pennsylvania Democrat Conor Lamb won a House district Trump had carried by 20 points. But both Democrats were aided both by scandals engulfing the GOP and major differences in candidate quality, dynamics that helped them win by a hair.
Democratic candidates have overperformed Trump in special elections before, and double-digit improvements aren’t out of the realm of possibility. But you typically need a political earthquake to flip a seat like Fine’s, and one didn’t materialize tonight.
Tim Tebow stops by the Oval Office
Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow joined Trump in the Oval Office today.
The University of Florida alum took a photo with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a fellow Gator. Rubio’s son plays on the school's football team as a running back.
Tebow, his wife, Demi-Leigh Tebow, and Rubio were photographed doing the university's “gator chomp” as they stood behind Trump. The photo was posted to Trump adviser Margo Martin's X account.
Trump hosted musician Kid Rock in the Oval Office yesterday for an executive order signing ceremony.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino tries to assure staff he will set aside his personal politics
In his first email to staff members, obtained by NBC News, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino told colleagues that he “didn’t take this job to be a partisan political figure” and that he plans to set “aside any personal politics.”
He also lauded the FBI, an agency he spent the last several years excoriating as a far-right podcaster spreading and promoting conspiracy theories.
“What you do is incredibly important and has real life-and-death consequences,” he wrote. “That can be tough and feel like a lot of pressure. In those moments, remember that you work for the FBI. Those three letters mean something. It’s an incredible privilege to be here — take it from the new guy.”
It was a striking turnabout from a few months ago, when the FBI appealed to the public for information about whoever placed pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees the night before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021. Bongino accused the FBI on his podcast of lying about the case, calling it an “inside job” and insisting the bureau knows who placed the bombs.
“Folks, this guy was an insider,” he said on his podcast. “This was an inside job. And it is the biggest scandal in FBI history.”
Bongino holds the No. 2 position at the FBI — a post that until this year was always held by an experienced career FBI leader. Many FBI agents — and the FBI Agents Association — have expressed deep displeasure with the departure from tradition, given that it means two people with no bureau experience are now running the place.
Bongino, who had been a Secret service agent, sought to address those concerns.
“I realize I’m new to the FBI,” he wrote. “There are benefits to coming here with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective on the way we do things. But I recognize there are also some downsides to being the new guy. Working with the FBI in my previous roles has made me familiar with a lot of the Bureau’s terminology and its mission set, but I’m still up against a steep learning curve. So, I’m going to rely on you.”
He ended the message — addressing a workforce at an institution he once called “irredeemably corrupt” — by saying, “It’s an honor to serve with you.”
An early look at 'Gulf of America' adoption in a coastal congressional district
With its proximity to the Gulf and status as Trump’s best-performing district in Florida in the 2024 election, you might think the real estate market in Florida’s 1st Congressional District would be a hotbed for advertising “Gulf of America” frontage.
But in a survey of 599 Zillow listings for condos/townhomes in the district that have popped up in the past month, 245 mention proximity to the Gulf or Gulf views as a selling point. And only 5% refer to it as the Gulf of America, with the majority (69%) mentioning the Gulf generically and 26% referring to it as the Gulf of Mexico.
Polls just closed in the 1st District at 8 p.m. ET.
White House plays April Fools' joke on journalists ahead of Trump's 'Liberation Day'
An overhead announcement came on at the White House this evening, declaring: “You have a dinner lid until 8:47.”
A “lid” is a term the White House press office uses to signal to reporters that there will be no more news until the lid is lifted. The final lid of the day also means reporters covering the White House are free to go home, since the president isn't expected to have any more public activities.
Confused groans could be heard from the press hallway today as reporters stared down the prospect of an unexpected late night at work. A radio pool reporter joked that the announcement nearly gave her a heart attack.
Less than a minute later, a second overhead announcement followed: “April Fools!”
The White House then officially issued a lid for the day, but not before it wished everyone a “Happy Liberation Day eve!”
Trump has declared April 2 as “Liberation Day,” when he's expected to impose a tariff plan that he says will help equalize the United States with its trading partners.
Fine runs behind the GOP's 2024 benchmarks despite winning his special election
With 81% of the votes reported in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, NBC News has projected the race for Fine, the GOP nominee. But his strong lead isn't as strong as the previous incumbent got in 2024.
Take a look at a few counties where all the votes are in. Fine holds 58% of the vote in Florida’s Lake County, but in November, Waltz carried that slice of the district with 68%.
In Flagler County, Fine has 57% of the vote with 22,218 votes, with Weil trailing at 42% with 16,529 votes. Waltz led in that part of the district last year with 66% of the vote and 51,079 ballots.
If that pattern holds across the district, Fine will run about 10 points behind Waltz's 2024 levels, while Weil will improve by about 10 points.
Republican Randy Fine wins special election for deep-red House seat in Florida
Republican state Sen. Randy Fine has prevailed in a special congressional election in Florida today, NBC News projects, though the race is shaping up to be closer than November’s results in the deeply Republican district.
Fine was leading Democrat Josh Weil 54%-46% when the NBC News Decision Desk called the race with 73% of the expected vote in.
The 6th District race was giving some Republicans heartburn, with Weil vastly outraising Fine and Fine slow to launch TV ads. Trump carried the district, which includes Daytona Beach, by 30 points in November, but outside Republican groups hit the airwaves in the final days as the race appeared to be competitive.
Trump himself also engaged to help turn out his supporters, as Democrats looked to leverage lower turnout in a special election and energy among the party’s grassroots to oppose him. Trump issued multiple Truth Social posts and held two tele-town halls last week for Fine and state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, the Republican in the 1st District special election, in the Panhandle, to replace former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. Polls close in the 1st District at 8 p.m. ET.