Recap: Tuesday’s Primary Results in AZ, FL and OK

As we noted yesterday, some states are still in primary season in the run-up to the 2018 midterm election on November 6, 2018. Arizona and Florida took the spotlight on Tuesday and there was some news generated from the outcomes of several races which will setup important battles in November.

Arizona

Governor: From Fox News, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey defeated former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, earning 69.9 percent of the votes compared to Bennett’s 30.1 percent in Tuesday’s primary. Both Ducey and Garcia announced they will suspend campaign gatherings later in the week to pay respects to Arizona Sen. John McCain, who died on Saturday after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

Senate: Rep. Martha McSally defeated former State Senator Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to advance to the November election as the Republican nominee. McSally will face Democratic challenger Rep. Kyrsten Sinema to decide who will replace the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, in what is expected to be a tough election for the GOP.

House of Representatives: Get full details on all the Congressional primaries from this story.

Florida

Governor: From CBS News, Trump-endorsed GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis won the race for governor, leading opponent Adam Putnam with 56 percent to 37 percent. President Trump tweeted his congratulations to DeSantis Tuesday night. On the Democratic side, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won the primary with 34 percent of the vote. Gillum and Gwen Graham were considered to be frontrunners in the Democratic primary. If elected, Gillum would be the first black governor of Florida. He was one of the most progressive candidates in the primary, and is a staunch supporter of critical left-wing issues like Medicare for All and abolishing U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Gillum was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Senate: In Florida, incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson runs uncontested. Gov. Rick Scott cruised to victory in the Republican primary. Recent polling shows Scott leading Nelson by a few points. An August poll by Florida Atlantic University had Scott at 44 percent and Nelson at 39 percent.

House of Representatives: From Fox News, Florida held more than a dozen Congressional primaries on Tuesday, but Democrats are eyeing one seat in particular that they believe could flip from Republican control. Former Clinton administration Cabinet member and university president Donna Shalala won the Democratic primary, and will face Spanish-language broadcaster Maria Elvira Salazar to decide who will replace retiring Longtime incumbent Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Although Ros-Lehtinen won re-election in 2016, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had about a 20 percentage point advantage of Trump. In the other races, no incumbents were defeated. Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson was re-elected after winning her primary because she has no challengers in the general election.

Oklahoma

Governor, GOP Runoff: From KOSU, a political outsider will be the Republican party’s nominee for governor. Kevin Stitt, a Tulsa business, defeated former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff. Stitt defeated Cornett 55 to 45 percent. Stitt will face Democrat Drew Edmondson and Libertarian Chris Powell in November’s general election. Powell defeated Rex Lawhorn in the Libertarian runoff.