Republican David Jolly won Tuesday’s high-stakes race to replace his former boss, the late GOP Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Florida, in Congress.  

The Republican nominee defeated Democrat Alex Sink 49 percent to 47 percent, with all of the precincts reporting when the Associated Press called the race at 7:49 p.m. Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby took 5 percent. In the weeks leading up to the election, polling showed a tight contest in the St. Petersburg-area 13th District. Both parties invested millions in this race, along with outside groups and super PACs.  

In the final day of the election, House Democratic operatives were reluctant to discuss whether or not Sink was likely to run again in the fall for a full, two-year term.  

At a minimum, Jolly’s win means Democrats still must pick up a net of 17 seats to capture control of the House in November — a difficult task. But both parties also used the special election as a test for their messages ahead of the midterm elections.  

Young died in October .