Mihaela Pleșa wins another term in Texas, while Ionel Roiban loses the election in Florida

Democrat Mihaela Pleșa won another term in the Texas House of Representatives following the elections held on November 3, 2026. She defeated Republican George Flint in the race for District 70 and retains her seat in a legislature dominated by the Republican Party.

Pleșa, whose parents emigrated from Romania to the United States, made American political history in 2022, when she became the first woman of Romanian descent elected to the Texas legislature. Her district is located in Collin County, in the Dallas metropolitan area. The new victory strengthens the Democrats’ position in this constituency.

In Florida, the result was unfavorable for Republican Ionel Roiban. A candidate in District 90 of the House of Representatives, he was defeated by Democrat Rob Long. Long received more than 41,000 votes, nearly 63% of the total, while Roiban received just over 24,000 votes, a difference of approximately 26 percentage points.

Roiban, originally from Vâlcea County, was a vice president of the PMP and a state adviser in Prime Minister Ludovic Orban’s office. Based in Boynton Beach for more than two decades, he works as a software engineer and leads an organization of Romanian-American Republicans. A third candidate of Romanian descent, Ciprian Ivanof, is awaiting certification of the results in Washington, D.C.