Ryan Elijah, a former FOX 35 Orlando anchor, beat two-term Rep. Cory Mills in Tuesday’s Republican primary in Florida’s 7th District.
The result closed out an incumbency defined by ethics scrutiny, abuse allegations and a disputed account of the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation that Mills used to introduce himself to voters.
Elijah took about 47 percent to Mills’s 34 percent — a gap of roughly 12 to 13 points. Sarah Ulrich and Michael Don Johnson finished farther back. Trump won the same district by about 12 points in 2024.
In November, Elijah will face Democrat Bale Dalton, a Navy veteran and former NASA chief of staff. The seat is heavily favored to stay Republican.
Mills lost after a slew of accusations involving the mistreatment of women. Trump endorsed him in February, then left him off a later round of Florida endorsements on Truth Social.
Last week Gov. Ron DeSantis said: “I have not endorsed Cory Mills, and I do not support Cory Mills.” And GOP Florida Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos backed Elijah instead.
The heaviest damage to Mills’s reputation began with reporting on the unofficial 2021 rescue trip he later made a centerpiece of his first House campaign.
Journalist Roger Sollenberger reported that people on the mission said Mills hired sex workers in Tbilisi, Georgia, while the group waited for a go-ahead. Those sources said the encounters happened more than once, including after he was told to stop, and that the team dropped him because the conduct risked the operation. Mills then went on to Afghanistan by himself.
Sources Say later published a photograph it said showed him with a woman on the trip. Multiple sources told Sources Say News the woman in the picture was among those hired there. Mills said the picture was from a hotel bar with more than a dozen people present and denied any prostitution or other misconduct beyond drinking. He has not offered a detailed public response to the broader allegations.
A separate Florida court fight followed in October 2025.
Lindsey Langston, the 2024 Miss United States and a Republican state committeewoman, obtained a protective order after saying Mills threatened to circulate explicit images and videos of her and to go after anyone she dated. Judge Fred Koberlein Jr. found her credible, concluding she had been a victim of dating violence, and rejected Mills’s testimony. In February 2025, another woman told D.C. police she had been assaulted at Mills’s Washington residence. She later recanted; police closed the matter and filed no charges.
Several news organizations reported that the Justice Department opened a criminal inquiry this year, at least in part into Mills’s finances. Mills said there was no such investigation and called the claim a political attack built on one unnamed source.
The House Ethics Committee authorized more than 20 subpoenas and called the allegations “serious and complex.” The inquiry covered campaign-finance questions, disclosure issues, use of official resources and the two 2025 incidents involving women.
Cook Political Report moved the district from Solid Republican to Likely Republican as the pressure mounted.
Mills denied every accusation, yet his fundraising still collapsed. He ended the second quarter with about $81,000 in the bank after raising less than $61,000. He told Sources Say News he was ready to self-fund again and cited more than $2 million he said he had put into an earlier race. FEC records show large self-funding in 2022, but not in 2024, when the campaign raised about $1.6 million and Mills gave $50,000.
The Office of Congressional Conduct had already found substantial reason to believe some earlier campaign loans were not from his personal funds. Elijah raised nearly $302,000 on the Republican side, including a $134,000 loan to himself. The promised late-Mills cash never reached 2022 levels. Sources Say News also verified Mills skipped several late television bookings, including Fox hits, while still putting “Trump Endorsed” in large type on his signs.
Elijah treated the allegations as “serious” but did not run a scandal-first campaign. After the race was called, he thanked supporters in Seminole and Volusia counties and said the campaign’s attention was now on November.
Langston posted on X: “There is difference between vengeance and justice. Deo Gratias.”
