Primary Election Wrap-Up and 2008 "Unofficial" Florida Primary Results
August 28, 2008 as of 10:21 am
The Primary Elections were held on Tuesday, August 26th and turnout was low with only 17.4 percent. Weather may have affected turnout, or maybe everyone’s focus is on November and not August. We can all speculate as to why the turnout was low, but at the end of the day votes were cast and we have some new faces coming to Tallahassee, along with some familiar ones, and with a few surprises.
View a complete listing of the Unofficial Election Results as of 10:21 am
The following are some observations in Tuesday’s elections:
U.S. Congress
Former Senator Bill Posey secured his place on the ballot of the general election in CD 15 with an impressive win of 77% of the vote. He will face Stephen Blythe, an Indialantic physician, in the general election. Blythe won his Democratic primary with 65.2% of the vote.
In the race to unseat Congressman Tim Mahoney, the victor of the Republican primary was Tom Rooney, a local businessman. He secured his place on the ballot with a narrow lead over Representative Gayle Harrell. Rooney garnered 36.7% of the vote compared to Harrell’s 35 percent. Hal Valeche placed third in this Republican Primary with 28.3% of the vote.
Congressman Ric Keller in CD 8 barely won his Republican primary with only 53% of the vote. He will now face Alan Grayson in the general election, who won his Democratic primary with 48.5% of the vote.
Familiar Faces
Incumbents were safe in the primary elections, so we have some familiar faces returning to the Florida House: HD 1 Rep. Greg Evers; HD 2 Rep. Dave Murzin; HD 34 Rep. Chris Dorworth; HD 55 Rep. Darryl Rouson; HD 59 Rep. Betty Reed; and HD 100 Rep. Evan Jenne.
New Faces
As of Tuesday night there are two new Senators and thirteen new members of the Florida House of Representatives. In the Senate, while they are familiar faces to us, they are new to the Florida Senate. In Senate District 29, former Representative Chris Smith had a decisive victory (69.4%) in his Democratic primary as expected. And in the race for Senate District 31, Representative Eleanor Sobel beat out former Representatives Ken Gottlieb and Tim Ryan in the Democratic primary with 35.7 percent of the vote.
New members to the Florida House: HD 8 Alan Williams; HD 12 Janet Adkins; HD 27 Dwayne Taylor; HD 31 John Tobia; HD 37 Scott Plakon; HD 42 Marlene O’Toole; HD 64 Kelli Stargel; HD 78 Kevin Rader; HD 92 Gwyn Clarke-Reed; HD 94 Hazelle Rogers ; HD 106 Richard Steinberg; HD 109 James Bush (former Representative); and HD 118 Dwight Bullard.
In all of these races, either the incumbent or the newly elected member of the Florida Legislature does not have an opponent in the general election or faces a write-in/NPA candidate in the general election on November 4th.
View a listing of the Florida House and Florida Senate as of August 26th.
SURPRISE!
There were several House races Tuesday night that were supposed to be close were anything but close. In HD 40 Eric Eisnaugle easily beat Joe Mantilla in the Republican primary. Both candidates had a list of impressive endorsements and their fundraising was close, and it was expected the race would be down to the wire, but Eisnaugle claimed an outstanding 68% of the vote. There is a filed Democratic candidate in this seat, but it is safe to say that come November, we will be saying Representative Eisnaugle.
In the Republican primary for HD 5, it was anybody’s call, but Brad Drake, former legislative aide to Rep. Brown, received an impressive 69.7% of the vote. He even won Okaloosa County, where his opponent, Sherry Campbell, served as a County Commissioner. Drake will now face Sheriff John McDaniel in the general election.
Another locally elected official was handed a defeat Tuesday night as well. Julie Conley, Mayor of Monticello, lost her Democratic primary to Leonard Bembry, a local business owner from Greenville, in HD 10. He garnered 57.7% of the vote and will face Republican candidate, Don Curtis, in the general election as the Democrats hope to take this seat back.
John Tobia? The candidate with little money, but a very impressive grassroots campaign, pulled a major upset in HD 31 as he beat former Representative and heavily funded Jason Steele, Ken Babington and Ron Stump in the Republican primary with 32.1 percent. He faces only a write-in candidate in the general election, so it will soon be Representative Tobia.
In a race to succeed Speaker Marco Rubio, it seemed the front runner would be Rafael Perez, who had received the Speaker’s support and outspent his opponent, Erik Fresen. But having also received key endorsements and local support, he received the vote last night with 52.2% and will now face Frank Morra in the general election. We will be calling him Representative Fresen in November.
Republican Party of Florida endorsements
This year, we witnessed the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) weighing in on the Republican primaries, not a typical practice in the campaign handbook. However, Chairman Jim Greer decided to endorse several candidates in the primary and didn’t fare so well in the contested seats. In House District 21, Rep. Joe Pickens seat, the RPOF endorsed Chris France in his Republican primary against Patricia Freeman and Charles Van Zant. And the winner is…Charles Van Zant with 41.8 percent. He will face Linda Myers in the general election.
Another loss for the RPOF occurred in House District 81, Rep. Gayle Harrell’s seat. The RPOF endorsed Danny “Dr. J.” Jazarevic because they felt he was the better candidate for them going into the general election and what has been dubbed a target seat for the Democrats. However, the voters thought otherwise and put their confidence behind Michael DiTerlizzi, a Martin County Commissioner, with 39.8 percent. “Dr. J.” actually came in third place with 27.7% behind Jeff Gorman with 32.5 percent.
The RPOF was right to endorse Don Curtis in the House District 10 primary against Mike Williams. However, Curtis just squeaked this win out with 51 percent of the vote. He will face Leonard Bembry in the general election.
Governor Crist also weighed in on two elections and offered his endorsement in Republican primaries. He won one and lost one on Tuesday. He endorsed Tom Rooney in Congressional District 16, as previously noted he won his primary election.
But he lost a contested Republican primary in the Florida Senate between former Representative Nancy Detert and Representative Mike Grant. This race had Senate presidency implications as it pitted key Republicans against each other. Governor Crist and Senator Mike Bennett aligned themselves with Rep. Grant, while Senate President Ken Pruitt, Senator Mike Haridopolos, and Senator Lisa Carlton (whose seat they were vying for) threw their support behind Detert.
The victory goes to Nancy Detert, who once again proved she’s a force to be reckoned with despite having a fundraising disadvantage. She will face Morgan Bentley in the general election, which will be the Senate race to watch this year as the Democrats target this seat.
Relatives Night of Loss
It proved to not be a good night for relatives of elected leaders in the state. The brother of Speaker Marco Rubio, Mario Rubio, lost his race to succeed Rep. Stan Jordan in HD 17. The winner in that Republican primary, Lake Ray, was no surprise to local insiders as he easily won with 52.2 % of the vote. The brother of Senate President Ken Pruitt, Will Pruitt, was vying to succeed Rep. Hugh Gibson in HD 42, but lost to Marlene O’Toole. She had the support of the Villages, Rep. Gibson and Senator Carey Baker and won decisively with 58.8% of the vote. And yet another brother, this time of Senator Steve Geller, lost his run for the Florida House. Richard Steinberg garnered 68.7% of the vote beating out Joe Geller in HD 106.
There was one relative on Tuesday that was a winner... Dwight Bullard, the son of Representative Ed Bullard and Senator Larcenia Bullard. He won in HD 118 with 40.8% of the vote and is now a Representative-Elect.
