TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Compared to the wild twists and turns of presidential elections, Florida’s primary will be relatively tame. The only statewide race on the ballot is for the Senate seat held by Republican Rick Scott, who will find out who he faces in November.
Local races are the main motivator to get people to the polls, including school board seats, as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis calls for conservatives to win seats in several districts.
Here’s a look at what to expect in the Florida primary:
United States Senate
While Scott technically has a primary, he is expected to easily defeat two minor candidates with little name or money. He has the power of office as well as the support of his party and has already spent about $27 million on his re-election bid, including millions of his personal money.
The leading candidate in the Democratic primary is former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who in 2018 became the first Ecuadorian American and the first South American-born woman to be elected to Congress. He lost his place after one season.
Mucarsel-Powell has the support of party leaders and has raised $12 million for the race. Scott is already campaigning as if he were his opponent, but he will first face Navy veteran and businessman Stanley Campbell, Army veteran and businessman Rod Joseph and Brian Rush, a former four-term Florida state representative.
congress
Incumbents are vying for 27 of the state’s 28 House seats, and all should be safe in the primary barring any surprises. One open seat is now held by Republican Bill Posey in a conservative district on Florida’s mid-Atlantic coast.
Posey announced his retirement after former Senate President Mike Haridopolos entered the race. He immediately backed Haridopolo, who now faces tech tycoon John Hearton. The winner of the GOP primary is the favorite to win in November. Democrats Sandy Kennedy and Daniel McDow are seeking the Democratic nomination.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s bid for a fifth term is also gaining attention, in large part because former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s political committee has spent $3 million attacking Gaetz and supporting primary opponent Aaron Dimmock. McCarthy became involved in the race after Gaetz led a group of eight far-right Republicans who ousted McCarthy from the presidency with the help of Democratic members.
The attacks on Gaetz have been brutal and stem from a House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct and drug use. But the accusations are not new, and Gaetz has a loyal following in the region that includes Pensacola and much of the Panhandle. Since winning office in 2016, Gaetz has easily won primaries with 65 to 80 percent of the vote.
State and local competitions
For the first time, Florida Democrats have fielded a candidate for all 120 House and 40 Senate seats. While that’s an admirable achievement and forces Republicans to share their money, Democrats lost control of the Senate in 1992 and the House in 1996.
Republicans have built a supermajority in both chambers. A few seats may switch parties after November, but Republicans are likely to maintain their dominance in the Legislature.
School board races will receive additional attention in several districts, with DeSantis endorsing 23 school board candidates in 14 counties this term and targeting 14 incumbents. It’s part of his agenda to oppose what he calls “woke” ideology in public schools.
By the numbers
By the end of the primary voting period, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 5.3 million to 4.3 million, and 3.5 million voters chose not to register with a party.
As of Friday morning, nearly 1.6 million of Florida’s 13.5 million voters had cast ballots by mail or at early voting sites, indicating a low overall turnout for the primary. Republicans have voted about 733,000, while Democrats have voted about 515,000.
