Handful of competitive US House races key in Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The final day of voting in Florida will decide the state's balance of Republican and Democratic members in the U.S. House, and while most incumbents seem likely to win reelection, a handful of seats are in play.

The highest-profile of these races Tuesday are in the Miami area: first-term Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell vs. Republican Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, and freshman Democrat Donna Shalala in a rematch against GOP Spanish-language TV personality Maria Elvira Salazar.

Shalala defeated Salazar by about 6 percentage points two years ago in District 27 and has broad name recognition from her time as President Bill Clinton's secretary of Health and Human Services and president of the University of Miami. Salazar appealed to the Hispanic voters in the district, which includes Little Havana and the more liberal Miami Beach area.

Mucarsel-Powell, the first person from Ecuador to serve in the U.S. Congress, won the District 26 seat two years ago over then-incumbent GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo. The district, which stretches from the Miami suburbs to Key West, has flipped between parties over several elections.

Gimenez, a Cuban-American retired firefighter, has served as county mayor since 2011 and is term-limited this year. Although he is well-known across the district, polls have shown a close race with Mucarsel-Powell in a slight lead.

Republicans currently have a 14-13 edge in the state's 27 House seats.

Beyond South Florida, most congressional incumbents were in safe seats or have newcomers running in their districts. But a few races were seen as potentially close.

One is an open seat in District 15, in the Tampa Bay area, created when GOP Rep. Ross Spano was defeated by Scott Franklin, a former Navy aviator and insurance company...