Tuesday’s primary election produced a pair of easy victories for Republican frontrunners for governor and Senate — one who was the favorite from day one, and the other who at one time was the underdog.
The current governor, Rick Scott, cruised to an easy victory over businessman Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente in the GOP Senate primary. He will take on incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson in what promises to be one of the nation’s most-watched Senate matchups.
In the GOP gubernatorial primary to succeed Scott (pictured above right), Rep. Ron DeSantis (above left) defeated state Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam by double digits. The results represented a major turnaround from mid-June, when a Fox News poll showed Putnam up by 15 percentage points.
What changed the race was President Donald Trump’s tweeted endorsement of DeSantis, who has been one of the president’s most vocal supporters in Congress. By early July, it was DeSantis with the double-digit polling lead.
A pair of polls published earlier this month suggested that Putnam had cut the lead; he trailed by 1 and 2 points, respectively. But DeSantis had double-digit leads in each of the next two surveys, and he never looked back.
DeSantis will face Democrat Andrew Gillum in the fall. As the mayor of Tallahassee, Gillum will attempt to become Florida’s first black governor. He defeated former Rep. Gwen Graham, daughter of longtime Democratic senator Bob Graham, and five other opponents.
Gillum’s victory is somewhat of an upset. Pre-election polling had suggested Graham had a solid lead. A former one-term congresswoman, she counted the support of the Florida Democratic Establishment.
In 2014, she unseated an incumbent Republican — one of the party’s few bright spots on an otherwise dismal night — but distanced herself from national Democrats by refusing to vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during the vote for speaker of the house.
Graham opted not to seek re-election in 2016 after the state Supreme Court drastically redrew her House district.
Gillum, meanwhile, had the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He supports the Vermont socialist senator’s “Medicare for all” plan.
In a Gravis poll taken last month, DeSantis had a 3-point lead over Gillum in a hypothetical matchup. The same poll showed DeSantis trailing Graham by 4 points.
DeSantis told supporters that he is not always the most popular person in Washington, fighting for term limits and to end a “slush fund” of taxpayer funds used by representatives to settle sexual harassment lawsuits. But he alluded to his support from Trump.
“I did have support from someone in Washington,” he said. “If you walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, he lives in the White House with the pillars in front of it. And I was able to talk to the president. I want to thank him for his support. I want to thank him for … viewing me as someone who can be a great leader for Florida.”
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For his part, Putnam struck a tone of unity in his concession speech. He told supporters that he had called DeSantis to congratulate him on winning the primary.
“I also let him know that I would happy to help him do anything and everything we can do to rally behind his campaign to be successful in November,” he said. “He’s a veteran. He’s a solid conservative. And he will need our help in November.”
In Oklahoma, Kevin Sitt won a runoff against former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett in the GOP primary to replace unpopular, outgoing Republican Gov. Mary Fallin. Cornett had finished first during the first round of voting in June but could not close the deal.
(photo credit: Ron DeSantis, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore)
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