Liberal Democrat pulls off upset in Democratic primary for Florida governor
(Reuters) - A Democratic progressive backed by Senator Bernie Sanders pulled off an upset over an establishment favorite in the Democratic primary for Florida governor on Tuesday, setting up a November showdown with a Trump-backed Republican in the battleground state.
Aug 28, 2018; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Rachelle Clegg holds a Andrew Gillum cutout as she cheers on gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum at his watch party at the Hotel Duval downtown. Mandatory Credit: Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat via USA TODAY NETWORK
Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, beat moderate Gwen Graham, the daughter of former governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, who had led in opinion polls heading into primary day.
Gillum, 39, who would be the state’s first black governor, surged in the final stages of the race.
“Tonight, Floridians joined Andrew in standing up and demanding real change,” Sanders tweeted in congratulations after Gillum’s surprise win by slightly more than 2 percentage points.
Gillum will face Republican U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis in November in one of the top governor’s races in the country. The conservative DeSantis easily won the Republican primary for governor in Florida after a campaign in which he highlighted his enthusiastic loyalty to President Donald Trump.
DeSantis, who was endorsed by Trump, beat state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam for the Republican nomination for governor.
“I am not always the most popular guy in D.C., but I did have support from someone in Washington. If you walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, he lives in the White House with the pillars in front of it,” DeSantis told supporters after his win, noting he had spoken to Trump.
DeSantis made his allegiance to Trump the central theme of his race, airing a campaign ad in which he urged his toddler daughter to “build that wall” with toy blocks.
Florida also will host one of the country’s top U.S. Senate races between term-limited Republican Governor Rick Scott, who won the Senate nomination against token opposition, and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Nelson ran unopposed for the nomination.
Voters in Arizona were also picking candidates for the November elections, when Democrats will try to pick up 23 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and two seats in the Senate to gain majorities and slam the brakes on Trump’s legislative agenda.
Republican establishment favorite U.S. Representative Martha McSally has led consistently in opinion polls over former state Senator Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a three-way battle to prove which candidate is most loyal to Trump, who won Arizona by 4 percentage points in 2016.
The contest could be critical to the balance of power in the Senate in November. The Arizona seat of retiring Republican Jeff Flake, a Trump critic, is considered one of the two top takeover targets for Democrats, along with Nevada.
McSally is seen as a stronger general election candidate than either Ward or Arpaio, both hard-line conservatives. McSally has already launched advertising aimed at her likely Democratic opponent in November, U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema.
The primaries in Arizona and Florida on Tuesday are the last big day of state primaries before November’s elections. After Tuesday’s primaries, only five states remain to pick candidates before full attention turns to the November election, when all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats will be at stake.
Reporting by John Whitesides in Washington, Letitia Stein in Florida; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.