WASHINGTON _ Carlos Curbelo couldn't win a two-front war.
National Democrats spent more money in Curbelo's district than any other across the country on a health care-centric TV campaign. Donald Trump spent the final stretches of the campaign attacking immigrants, which didn't help Curbelo in his majority-Hispanic district months after he led an unsuccessful GOP rebellion to force Congress to act on the issue.
And Curbelo's Democratic opponent, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, avoided strategic and ethical blunders that plagued former Rep. Joe Garcia, the Democrat Curbelo beat in 2014 and 2016.