UPDATES: President Trump, Joe Biden fight for Florida
The Latest: Gimenez wins House seat over Mucarsel-PowellRepublican Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez has won a Florida seat in the U.S. House, defeating a single-term Democrat. The 41-year-old Democrat easily defeated Republican H. Wayne Clark in the heavily Democratic county. _____8:17 p.m.Republican Kat Cammack has won Florida’s U.S. House seat held by her former boss, retiring Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho. _____7:22 p.m.Republican state Rep. Byron Donalds has been elected to the U.S. House seat now held by Florida Republican Francis Rooney. “I feel he’s just more level-headed.”______7 a.m.Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden have campaigned heavily in Florida, each hoping to win the prized battleground state’s 29 electoral votes.
Trump wins Florida; voters raise minimum wage to $15
— District 3: Republican Kat Cammack has won Florida’s U.S. House seat held by her former boss, retiring Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho. He defeated Democrat Donna Deegan, a former television news anchor who has worked to raise money for breast cancer research and to help patients. — District 15: Republican Scott Franklin has won Florida Rep. Ross Spano’s seat in the U.S. House. Deutch was first elected in 2010 and represents a firmly Democratic district that includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties. A supermajority of Florida voters approved the amendment to the Florida Constitution that will raise Florida’s minimum wage from the current $8.56 an hour to $15 an hour by 2026.
Florida governor names new director for states employment agency
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. State Rep. Dane Eagle was appointed as executive director of the state's employment agency on Wednesday, a little more than two weeks after barely losing a Republican primary for Congress in a heavily GOP district. The agency was widely criticized for long delays in paying out unemployment benefits after the economy tanked during the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people waited weeks and sometimes months for benefits from the glitch-ridden unemployment system after suddenly losing work amid the outbreak. But Crist dropped out of the Republican primary, ran as an independent and lost to Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Lawson remained as director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, but management of the unemployment system was given to Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter.
Polls open: Election Day arrives in Florida
Polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday for Floridas Primary Election and they wont close until 7 p.m. local time. Florida is a closed primary state, meaning voters can only cast ballots for candidates running for the party in which they are registered. Its Primary Day and election workers are preparing to open the polls for in-person voting during a pandemic. She said she registered to vote the first chance she could and has voted in every election since, usually being in line when polls open on Election Day. As of June 30, Florida had nearly 4.9 million active Republican voters and more than 5.1 million active Democratic voters.
Vote by mail in Florida primary already far exceeds 2016
Florida has no statewide races on the 2020 ballot and voters are voting by mail in larger numbers, likely because of the coronavirus pandemic. Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ross Spano is facing a primary challenge from Lakeland City Commissioner Scott Franklin. Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey is also facing a primary opponent in District 8, located on Florida's Space Coast. The vote by mail totals far exceed the 2016 primary, when fewer than 1.3 million people voted by mail, and ballots will continue to arrive at election offices through Tuesday. The state has nearly 3.8 million voters who either are not registered with a party or are registered with a minor party.