Marco Rubio is seeking to secure the Republican nomination for a second term and Democrats are deciding who should face him. Rubio was ahead with some 70 per cent of the vote, with 38 per cent of precincts counted.
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Murphy, 33, of Palm Beach Gardens, crushed U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando and lawyer Pam Keith of Miami in what had been a cutthroat primary campaign battle, preparing the victor for what likely will be another cutthroat general election battle this fall.
McCain, the 2012 failed Republican presidential candidate, now faces a spirited challenge in Arizona from Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, who has served in the US House of Representatives since 2011 and wants to move to the Senate.
But Republicans rallied around Rubio, with other contenders dropping out and national Republicans seeing Rubio as by far the safest choice to keep the seat in their party.
Florida senator Marco Rubio “came back from losing the presidential race and then big-footed his way into the race”. She has been one of the Democratic Party’s top leaders in Congress and served as Democratic National Committee chairwoman at President Barack Obama’s request for almost five years, resigning in July after the DNC’s emails were hacked. Marco Rubio and Rep. “Patrick Murphy is nothing more than an old-fashioned liberal, and the ideas he stands for are wrong for Florida, are risky and leave us vulnerable as a people and a nation”.
Mr. Rubio’s voting record in the Senate became an issue in the presidential, when Mr. Trump charged in a debate: “This guy has the No. 1 absentee record in the United States (Senate)”.
“The primary is over”, Rubio told CNN in an interview Monday following a campaign appearance with veterans in Fort Myers. He thought he was doing the right thing (by running for president). Still, Rubio expressed a willingness to campaign alongside Trump in Florida this fall.
Murphy, a former Republican, quickly earned party support and raised significantly more money. Murphy has repeatedly pointed out that Rubio called Trump a conman who can’t be trusted, but now supports him.
That prompted the major Republican Senate candidates to quit, leaving Carlos Beruff, 58, a millionaire homebuilder and newcomer to politics, as Rubio’s main primary challenger.
Rubio’s decision, two days before the filing deadline, to get back in gave Republicans a shot in the arm.
Florida had to rip up and redraw its congressional maps after they were found to violate the state constitution’s provision requiring compact districts that don’t favor incumbents or political parties.
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In advancing to the general election, the 80-year-old McCain handily beat ex-state Senator Kelli Ward, 47, a conservative Tea Party activist and a follower of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Several races will essentially be decided in the primary and Florida will eventually send at least seven new House members to Washington.
