ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for Florida governor and former Rep. David Jolly picked up the Democratic nod in Tuesday's primaries, setting the stage for a fall campaign to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis and decide the state's future political direction.
November's election will test President Donald Trump’s grip on his adopted state and Democrats’ ability to resurrect Florida as a national political battleground. Florida has moved notably to the right since Trump's victory in 2016, though Democrats hope to regain ground from his slumping popularity ratings.
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DeSantis, a leading conservative figure who has both clashed and collaborated with Trump over the years, is barred from running for a third consecutive term.
Also Tuesday, progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate special election, defeating retired Army Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, a onetime National Security Council official who testified in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
Nixon, who was heavily outspent by Vindman, will face Sen. Ashley Moody, winner of the Republican nomination, in November to fill the last two years of Marco Rubio’s Senate term. Rubio left the seat to become Trump's secretary of state last year.
Donalds would be Florida's first Black governor if he wins in November. He defeated a former DeSantis running mate, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, political newcomer James Fishback and others Tuesday.
The 47-year-old congressman Donalds told his supporters at a Universal Studios resort hotel that he’d heard from Republican rivals who pledged their help in winning the general election.
“The primary is over,” Donalds said. “Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican Party.”
Donalds described Trump's backing as important but not determinative.
“Obviously, he has the strongest following of anybody in our party,” he said. However, he added, “you can’t just sit back and think the president’s endorsement is going to carry you.”
Donalds has promised to push tax cuts, overhaul Florida’s insurance regulations to lower consumer costs and seek greater price transparency from healthcare providers.
The Democrats’ candidate for governor, Jolly, is a former Republican congressman who switched parties last year. He did not shy away from his partisan history as he addressed supporters Tuesday night.
“To my Democratic friends, thank you for welcoming me into the party,” he said.
Jolly’s speech detailed a platform that balances between both political parties: an embrace of capitalism and a lean government, but one that “needs to do its part to fill the gaps,” such as with education and housing.
“As an old-school Republican, I talk about ending the culture wars not to celebrate some progressive platform,” he said, “but because I still believe in the old school Republican, Libertarian policy that government should simply stay out of your life, and stay out of your bedroom.”
It's the second time in a row that Democrats have nominated a onetime Republican for governor.
Four years ago, they backed former Gov. Charlie Crist, only to see him lose by nearly 20 percentage points to DeSantis.
Rich Chamberlin, a retiree in Port St. Lucie, said he supported Jolly in Tuesday's primary, spurred on by attack ads against him.
“I saw anti-Jolly ads. I said ‘Ok, if they are against him, then I must be for him,'" Chamberlin said, adding it didn't matter to him that Jolly was once a Republican.
Florida voters haven't sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 2012, and this year's race was always going to be an uphill climb.
Moody, a former state attorney general, was appointed by DeSantis to fill Rubio's seat last year after he became Trump's secretary of state. She's now running to finish the last two years of his term.
Moody will face Nixon, a progressive state lawmaker who scored an upset victory over the Army veteran Vindman. Nixon would be Florida’s first Black U.S. senator if elected in November.
"Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign," Vindman posted on social media. "I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you’ll join me.
In U.S. House primaries, Tuesday’s biggest contest saw longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, defeat former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and others in a redrawn south Florida district.
Wasserman Schultz, who is white, urged voters in the new, plurality Black district to help her return to Washington for a 12th term. Cherfilus-McCormick had sought a comeback after resigning earlier this year under a pending federal indictment and threat of House ethics sanctions.
Wasserman Schultz entered a new district after DeSantis' successful push for new congressional maps intended to boost Trump's midterm election prospects.
Her four Black primary opponents — including Cherfilus-McCormick — had argued that the district should have a Black representative. But the voters went with a candidate who touted long experience from serving in Congress since 2005.
Surrounded by her campaign staff Tuesday night, Wasserman Schultz tearfully thanked voters for having confidence in her. She said she wanted to “make all of you proud, to make sure that the people we spoke to all across this district know that I will fight so they can pay their rent.”
Former television news reporter Ryan Elijah won the Republican nomination for Florida’s 7th Congressional District, ousting the scandal-plagued Mills.
A two-term congressman, Mills has denied allegations of domestic violence against a former girlfriend and other controversies.
But Florida Republicans including DeSantis had abandoned Mills ahead of the primary and the congressman was not included on Trump's final list of Florida endorsements. Elijah advances to the general election in a central Florida district that is considered reliably Republican.
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Associated Press reporters Gisela Salomon in Miami and David Fischer in Port St. Lucie, Florida, contributed.
