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Franklin told POLITICO on Tuesday night that key endorsements from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) And well-known Polk County Sheriff – Grady Judd – have helped move forward. Gaetz endorsed Franklin even though other Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio, supported Spano.
Democrats had planned to target the GOP-leaning seat as a possible pickup opportunity, especially if Spano won the primary. Franklin will face former TV reporter Alan Cohn in the November election. Cohn defeated State Representative Adam Hattersley, who had been recruited to participate in the race.
“I consider tonight to be the first step,” Franklin said. “It’s not done for November.”
In other highlights from Tuesday’s primary, the frenzied and increasingly hostile race to succeed incumbent Francis Rooney in Florida’s 19th Congressional District seemed too close to be called. State Representative Byron Donalds led the crowded nine-vote primary with 23% of the vote, while State Representative Dane Eagle had 22% of the vote. Meanwhile, Kat Cammack won a primary to 10 in the race for the North Florida seat now held by Rep. Ted Yoho. The winners of the Republican primaries are expected to win the seats in November.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez easily won the Republican primary in Florida’s 26th Congressional District, staging what will likely be the state’s most watched congressional race. Gimenez will face Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who reversed the siege two years ago when she beat starter Carlos Curbelo. Mucarsel-Powell has been a prime target for Republicans who were able to recruit one of Miami-Dade County’s best-known politicians to challenge her.
In another notable primary, Anna Paulina Luna, an Air Force veteran who won backing from Trump allies such as Gaetz, won a three-way primary for Florida’s 13th Congressional District. She edged out Amanda Makki, a former Capitol Hill staff member and lobbyist who had the backing of House GOP leaders such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Luna will challenge Rep. Charlie Crist, who is seeking his third term.
Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida who eventually became a Democrat, won the seat two years ago with 58% of the vote. He’s also sitting on over $ 3 million. But Republicans argue the district can be toppled with a strong candidate. They note that Trump only lost the district by 3 points in 2016.
Several outgoing members of Congress easily won their primaries on Tuesday, including Gaetz (FL-01) and Reps Al Lawson (FL-05), Bill Posey (FL-08), Brian Mast (FL-18) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz ( FL-23).
In Trump’s home district, which includes Mar-a-Lago, conservative figure Laura Loomer beat a field of five other Republicans in the race for Florida’s 21st Congressional District. Loomer, who had been banned from most social media platforms, will take on outgoing Democratic Representative Lois Frankel. The seat is solidly Democratic, and more than 58% of voters in the district backed Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The most contested primary state was the race for Florida’s 19th Congressional District. The competition to replace Rooney – who announced his retirement after coming under heavy criticism for suggesting he wanted to keep an open mind about Trump’s impeachment – had a host of negative campaign attacks that ranged from from questioning voters’ loyalty to Trump, to an eleventh-hour campaign ride where voters received a text message claiming frontrunner Donalds had dropped out of the race. Donalds tweeted about the text early Tuesday morning, calling the text “illegal politics” and “dirty politics.” Later in the day, he tweeted that “We must fight against the lie.”
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