By Michael Moline | Editor in Chief
“I’m a Democrat who’s not going to stand up and tell you we’re going to do away with choice. Choice is here. Choice is here to stay. However, Florida families are being left behind by the current choice program.” — David Jolly
David Jolly, left, and Byron Donalds, right, are the nominees for their respective parties. (Photos via each candidate’s social media accounts)
Donalds took 48% of the vote in a crowded primary that included nine other Republicans, Christine Sexton reports. Jolly easily defeated five opponents in the Democratic primary, earning 61% of the vote. Jolly is a former GOP U.S. House member and Trump dissident who switched to the Democratic Party last year and appeared on the path to his own competitive primary against Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. But Demings dropped out of the race after being diagnosed with cancer.
Her victory concluded a primary that had some wondering whether progressive Democrats’ wins around the nation would carry into Florida. Nixon, carrying endorsements of several of Florida’s progressive Democratic legislators, enjoyed a significantly smaller campaign account compared to competitor Alex Vindman. Nixon is best known for her in-your-face progressivism — for example, staging a sit-in in the governor’s office to protest his congressional gerrymander.
In one of the most watched congressional primaries this year, longtime Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won in a Broward County-based seat held by a Black representative since the early 1990s. Meanwhile, two-term U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz crushed his Democratic Socialists of America-backed opponent, Oliver Larkin, 63%-37%. Republican Cory Mills, facing allegations of dating violence and campaign finance law violations, lost his primary in CD 7, in Seminole and Volusia counties. Democratic Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell held off fellow Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner in state Senate District 16 in the Tampa Bay area, 60%-40%.
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