Hannah Russell is a 17-year-old junior at Jupiter High School who doesn't have a high school diploma yet, but she just ran a winning campaign for the Florida Legislature. Russell served as campaign manager for Elizabeth Holmes, who defeated incumbent Meg Weinberger to win the District 94 seat in what's being described as one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 election cycle.
Russell and Holmes first crossed paths at a school board meeting where Russell was advocating for teacher pay raises, according to WPBF 25 News. That advocacy work was well documented before the campaign ever began: Russell, along with fellow Jupiter High students Sawyer Tinsley and Samuel Gilbert, had launched an online petition pushing for higher teacher pay ahead of a Palm Beach County School Board vote, according to WPTV. That petition grew from a few hundred signatures to 4,500 as the students pushed to reach 5,000 before the board's vote, the station reported.
By the time the school board actually voted, the petition had climbed to nearly 7,000 signatures, according to WLRN. ‘We need to advocate for them,’ Russell told WLRN after that meeting, referring to teachers. It was this same advocacy that caught Holmes's attention and eventually pulled Russell into electoral politics.
From Intern to Campaign Manager in Weeks
Holmes initially hired Russell as an intern, but promoted her to campaign manager within weeks, per WPBF's reporting. Russell said she was nervous and didn't think she was qualified for the role, but Holmes had a different take: the candidate said Russell did everything and that she couldn't have hired someone better.
As campaign manager, Russell organized door-knocking efforts, voter calls, campaign events and turnout operations, all while still carrying her Jupiter High School responsibilities. She said balancing the two was difficult, and acknowledged that recovering some of her grades was necessary once the campaign wrapped. Still, Russell said she loved every second of the experience and was quick to credit others with the victory rather than take sole ownership of it.
An Upset in Republican-Leaning Territory
The win stands out because of the district's political lean. Unofficial results show Holmes won with 38,361 votes, or 50.34%, to Weinberger's 36,560 votes, or 47.98%, with Doug Barrow, who had no party affiliation, pulling in 1,280 votes, or 1.68%, according to CBS12, which noted all 100 precincts were reporting at the time. CBS12 also reported that Holmes, a public school teacher and mother of four, was born and raised in Palm Beach County.
District 94 covers all or portions of Belle Glade, Pahokee, Palm Beach Gardens, Royal Palm Beach, South Bay and Westlake, according to Florida Politics. Registered Republicans account for roughly 39% of voters there, compared with nearly 33% Democrats and 29% third- and no-party voters, the outlet reported — numbers that made Holmes's win all the more notable. Just two years earlier, Donald Trump carried the district by nearly 10 points and Weinberger won the seat with just over 55% of the vote, Florida Politics noted.
The fundraising gap between the two candidates made the result even more striking. Weinberger raised more than $800,000 between her campaign account and political committee, while Holmes raised roughly $53,000 from her April filing through October 29, per Florida Politics.
Part of a Broader Statewide Shift
Holmes's win wasn't an isolated event. Two coastal Broward County Florida House districts also flipped from Republican to Democratic in the 2026 election, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Florida House Democratic leader Christine Hunschofsky said Democrats flipped 16 seats statewide, lost one, and had a Democrat leading in a seat still undergoing a recount. In nearby House District 100, Democrat Michael Ferguson defeated Republican Yoni Anijar by a margin of 52% to 48% in unofficial results, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Florida Politics also pointed to Democrat Emily Gregory's March win in neighboring House District 87 as an earlier example of a Republican-leaning district flipping.
What Comes Next for Russell
Holmes said her campaign team could not have won without Russell, and the two have said they plan to stay in touch forever. What's less clear is whether that relationship will extend into employment — Russell's future with Holmes in Tallahassee remains unclear. For now, Russell says she plans to go to college, returning to the ordinary milestones of high school life after a campaign season that was anything but ordinary.
