The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday took a step towards allowing members who are new parents to cast their ballots by proxy, overriding an effort by the chamber's Republican leadership to block the change.

Speaker Mike Johnson failed to block a bipartisan group of legislators from forcing a vote on a measure that would allow members to each designate a colleague to temporarily vote in their place after the birth of their child.

The group of Republicans teamed up with Democrats to overcome a procedural hurdle backed by GOP leadership that would have blocked a proposed resolution allowing new parents in Congress to vote remotely.

The result dashes Democrats' hopes of pulling off a major upset in a district Donald Trump carried last November.

Republican candidates are projected to win two special elections in Florida on Tuesday, according to projections by U.S. media organizations, boosting Republicans' slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives by filling vacancies created by President Donald Trump's picks for cabinet posts.