Key races for House and Senate are on the ballot in Tuesday’s Florida primaries.
Florida voters will pick the Democratic and Republican candidates for their state’s critical governor and Senate races in Tuesday’s primary elections, setting up two of 2018’s most important campaigns.
Republicans Ron DeSantis and Adam Putnam are squaring off in the GOP gubernatorial primary to replace Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for Senate against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Democrat Gwen Graham leads her side of the ledger, though Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine aren’t too far behind her in the polling before primary day.
Democrats will also have openings to pick up a few House seats in the Sunshine State, and both parties have decisions to make on congressional candidates in Tuesday’s primaries.
Polls close at 8 pm ET. Live results are below, powered by Decision Desk.
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Florida governor primary
Ron DeSantis, Adam Putnam, and Gwen Graham lead the Republican and Democratic fields
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Rep. Ron DeSantis and state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam are the two main contenders. DeSantis desperately sought, and outright asked for, Donald Trump’s endorsement and got it. That might be all you need in a state where you really can’t run too far to the right in a GOP primary. Meanwhile, Putnam, the establishment choice, has sought to walk a tightrope of not disavowing Trump entirely while still criticizing DeSantis for being little more than a Trump puppet.
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Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress and daughter of a former governor and senator, is the presumed frontrunner.
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has attracted a lot of excitement on the left — he supports Medicare-for-all and got the Bernie Sanders endorsement — and some operatives in the state think he could be surging late. Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and business leader Jeff Greene are also polling in double digits and have a lot of money on hand.
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Florida Senate primary
Rick Scott has a clear path to the GOP nomination
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One of 2018’s most competitive Senate races.
Scott is maybe the GOP’s best Senate recruit this cycle: a pretty popular two-term governor with as much money to spend as he wants. His money advantage — he’s outspent Dem Bill Nelson by a 4-to-1 margin thus far — may explain his narrow lead in the early polls against an incumbent in a year that overall favors Democrats.
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Florida’s Sixth Congressional District
A tight race to succeed Republican Ron DeSantis
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DeSantis is vacating this seat to run for governor. It’s a competitive race to replace him: Michael Waltz is a Marine combat veteran who’s raised a lot of money, John Ward is a Navy vet who is also fundraising well, and former state Rep. Fred Costello has the endorsement of Florida Attorney General and Trump ally Pat Bondi and the NRA.
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Nancy Soderberg, former ambassador to the United Nations, is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red-to-Blue list. Stephen Sevigny, a medical radiologist, and attorney John Upchruch are the other Democratic candidates.
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Florida’s Seventh Congressional District
A rare pick-up opportunity for Republicans
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This is probably a two-person race: state Rep. Mike Miller, first elected in 2014, versus business executiveScott Sturgill. They’ve both raised six figures for their campaigns. Vennia Francois, a first-generation American whose family came to the United States from the Bahamas, is also on the ballot.
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Florida’s 15th Congressional District
Two credible GOP candidates, and an establishment Dem battles the left
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Rep. Dennis Ross is stepping down. Current state Rep. Ross Spano and former state Rep. Neil Combee look like the favorites for the GOP nod to replace him. Spano is the fundraising leader and got endorsements from Sen. Marco Rubio and Bondi; Combee likes to tout that he had a position in Trump’s Agriculture Department.
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This also appears to be a two-person race: attorney Kristen Carlson versus Navy vet and business leader Andrew Learned. Carlson describes herself as more moderate and got the Emily’s List endorsement, while Learned has said that he would support Medicare-for-all and received the backing of the Indivisible grassroots group.
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Florida’s 16th Congressional District
Democrats vie to challenge Vern Buchanan
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David Shapiro, a local attorney, is another name on the DCCC’s Red to Blue battleground list. His opponent is Jan Schneider, who was the Democratic nominee for this district in 2016 and lost to Buchanan by nearly 20 points. She’s running again.
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Florida’s 18th Congressional District
Republican Brian Mast faces challenges in primary and general
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Rep. Brian Mast, first elected in 2016, voted for Obamacare repeal and the tax bill. He does have a primary to get through against Second Amendment-loving, environmentally conscious Dave Cummings and doctor Mark Freeman, who lost to Mast in the 2016 Republican primary.
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Another DCCC favorite is the presumed frontrunner: Lauren Baer, who worked in Barack Obama’s State Department. She has to beat attorney Pam Keith, who ran and lost in the Democratic primary for US Senate in 2016.
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Florida’s 26th Congressional District
Carlos Curbelo awaits his Democratic opponent
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DCCC-backed candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who works in nonprofits, and Ret. Navy Cmdr. Demetries Grimes.
Republican incumbent Carlos Curbelo has represented this D+6 rated district since 2015, and was reelected even as the district voted for Hillary Clinton by 16 points in 2016. He’s a moderate Republican who has made headlines trying (and failing) to spur action on immigration reform within the House GOP.
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Florida’s 27th Congressional District
A lively Republican primary to replace Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in toss-up race
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This race features Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, former Vice Mayor of Doral Bettina Rodriguez-Aguilera (who got the Miami Herald’s endorsement and has the unusual background of having said she was abducted by aliens), veteran Elizabeth Adadi, songwriter and Latin Grammy Award winner Angie Chirino, veteran and entrepreneur Michael Ohevzion, educator Maria Peiro, journalist Maria Elvira Salazar, and documentary filmmaker Gina Sosa.
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This race features Bill Clinton’s former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, state Rep. David Richardson, former Miami Herald reporter Matt Haggman, Miami Beach Commissioner Rosen Gonzalez, and former University of Miami academic adviser Michael Hepburn.
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Author: Ella Nilsen
