Reps. Charlie Crist, Val Demings win Democratic primaries in Florida

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist won Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday, beating top rival Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. With more than 84% of the vote counted, Crist led 59.9% to 35%, a margin media outlets projected was too large for Fried to overcome.

Crist now faces incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Nov. 8 midterm. DeSantis leads his Democratic opponent in the polls by about 8 percentage points. DeSantis ran unopposed in the primary.

U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando, won her primary race for U.S. Senate. She now hopes to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in November. Rubio won his party’s nomination running for reelection in an uncontested race.

According to a RealClear Politics average, Rubio is expected to defeat Demings in November by over 5 points. However, a University of North Florida poll has her winning by 4 points, although it projected Fried would beat Crist and was off by more than 30 points.

In House District 1, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz won his primary with 66.7% of the vote based on incomplete results. He’s expected to face Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones, who led in the polls although the majority of the votes in her race haven’t been counted as of press time.

Republicans who won their Congressional primary races include:

Neal Dunnin—District 2;Kat Cammack—District 3;Aaron Bean—District 4;John Rutherford—District 5;Michael Waltz—District 6;Bill Posey—District 8;Scotty Moore—District 9;Calvin Wimbish—District 10;Daniel Webster—District 11;Gus Bilirakis—District 12;Anna Luna—who was endorsed by President Donald Trump in District 13;Laurel Lee—District 15;Vern Buchanan—District 16;Greg Steube—District 17;Scott Franklin—District 18;Byron Donalds—District 19;Drew-Montez Clark—District 20;Brian Mast—District 21;M. Diaz-Balart—District 26;Maria Salazar—District 27;Carlos Gimenez—District 28.

Four other races are too close to call and or haven’t yet been called as of press time.

Democrats who won their Congressional primary races include:

Al Lawson—District 2;Danielle Hawk—District 3;Karen Green—District 7;Darren Soto—District 9;Shante Munns—District 11;Kimberly Walker—District 12;Eric Lynn—District 13;Kathy Castor—District 14;Jan Schneider—District 16;Andrea Kale—District 17;Cindy Banyai—District 19;S. Cherfilus-McCormick—District 20;Corinna Balderramos Robinson—District 21;Lois Frankel—District 22;Jared Moskowitz—District 23;F. Wilson—District 24;Debbie Wasserman Schultz—District 25;Christine Olivo—District 26.

Seven races are too close to call or haven’t yet been called as of press time.