Who's running in Florida's 26th congressional district
3 candidates are on the ballot. Below is what each one says they stand for, what they have actually done in office or in public life, and the arguments published for and against them — each quoted from a named source rather than summarised by us.
3 candidates · ballot order · Mario Diaz-Balart currently holds this seat
Medium confidenceMedium confidenceThe candidate's stated positions and basic record are documented, but coverage is thin — often little independent reporting, or criticism from only one side.What would raise it: More independent reporting, a documented voting record, or published criticism from a named opponent would raise this.
What they say they stand for
Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.
Nothing documented in the sources reviewed.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
U.S. Representative since January 2003; re-elected in 2024 with 70.9%.
Served in the Florida House and Senate before Congress.
Advanced from the August 18, 2026 Republican primary.
Arguments in favor
He is still pushing for Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, Haitians and others, and for a route for Cubans holding I-220A paperwork, saying he does not consider it reasonable to deport people to Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti or Nicaragua given conditions in those countries.
— Mario Diaz-Balart, in interviews with Telemundo 51 and Periódico Cubano
He intervenes in individual cases rather than only in the abstract: he said he was horrified by the detention and threatened deportation of Gregory Sanabria, a Venezuelan whom human rights organisations say was tortured under Nicolás Maduro, and wrote to the Department of Homeland Security about the "urgent situation" facing law-abiding Venezuelans losing TPS.
— Mario Diaz-Balart, reported by MS NOW and NBC News
Arguments against
In public he backed the administration that ended TPS and only privately asked it to spare "law-abiding Venezuelans" — he never criticised the decision itself, in a district where more than half of residents were born outside the United States.
— NBC News
Activists and South Florida residents have gathered outside the district offices of the Cuban-American members of Congress, his among them, to demand they change what protesters call a lukewarm stance on the deportations.
— Protesters reported by CiberCuba
What we couldn’t verify
His committee assignments and appropriations seniority were not established from the sources found.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's published case against him dates from an earlier cycle and is not used here.
No criticism of him by name from Nicole Locklin's campaign was found.
Affordability: price-gouging enforcement, consumer protection, wages that track the cost of living, and building affordable housing while confronting insurers on premiums.
Universal health care, which she calls the fastest responsible path; protecting Social Security and Medicare from cuts or privatisation; lowering prescription prices.
Defending reproductive freedom and abortion access nationwide.
Opposition to unnecessary or unauthorised war, with diplomacy and transparency on military spending.
Banning congressional stock trading, combating dark money and overturning Citizens United.
Accountable policing with mental health services, universal background checks and safe firearm storage.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Won the August 18, 2026 Democratic primary.
Refuses corporate PAC contributions.
Has not held elected office.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
No published criticism of Locklin by name could be found: not from Mario Diaz-Balart or his campaign, not from the National Republican Congressional Committee, not from her Democratic primary opponent, and not from Miami news coverage. Because no case against her exists on the record, none is presented for her either, rather than showing her own campaign's case unanswered.
She has held no elected office, so there is no voting record to set against her campaign's positions.
Her fundraising totals were not reported in material available; she says she takes no corporate or foreign PAC money.
No-party-affiliation candidate for the 26th District, qualified for the November 3, 2026 general election.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
No published criticism of Meidinger Hosey by name could be found, and no published case for her: no campaign site was located and she has drawn no coverage. Because no case against her exists on the record, none is presented for her either.
Her positions, fundraising and any endorsements were not reported in material available.
Positions and criticism are quoted from the named sources, not our assessments. This is built to help you start getting informed — confirm the official candidate list with your election authority before you vote.
Florida held its primary on August 18, 2026. Three candidates are on the November ballot: Republican incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart, Democrat Nicole Locklin and Deborah Meidinger Hosey, running with no party affiliation. Florida enacted a new congressional map in May 2026 that reworked most of the state's districts, this one among them; it covers western Miami-Dade County and the inland counties to the north, and the Cook Partisan Voter Index rates it R+16. Roster from the Florida qualifying lists as reported by Politics1 and Wikipedia. Arguments are shown for Diaz-Balart, whose handling of immigration enforcement in a heavily immigrant district has been both defended and attacked on the record. No published criticism of Locklin or Hosey by name was found, so neither column is filled for them; their positions are in their profiles.
This is one contest on a longer ballot
A Florida ballot also carries state legislative districts, county offices, judicial seats and often local questions — and which of them you vote on is decided by your street address, not your city or ZIP code.
Your ballot is determined by your election authority, not by us. Verify your registration, precinct, and sample ballot at Florida Division of Elections.