Adding to the intrigue is that the fates of the two senators will likely play a big role in whether Republicans can upset expectations and maintain majority control of the Senate after the November 8 election.
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With 74 percent of the vote in, Rubio was up 72-19 percent over Carlos Beruff, a wealthy developer who ran in the mold of Donald Trump and poured in $8 million of his own money into the race.
Likewise, Rubio was fixated on Murphy in the closing days, calling him “one of the most unaccomplished members of Congress”.
After a primary marked by no debates among either the Democratic or Republican field, GOP U.S. Senate nominee Marco Rubio challenged Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy to take the debate stage six times between now and November. This suggests the possibility that Rubio could be hampered by having Trump at the top of the ticket in the same way that incumbent Republicans in other parts of the country have found themselves. McCain, with a career grade of D, received 52 percent.
In Florida, political watchers are scouring primary returns in a bevy of House districts that were been redrawn just months ago by a court-ordered redistricting. At least seven of the state’s 27 House seats will have new representatives in January, and as many as eight more could see turnover. Mr. Canova raised $3.3 million in mostly small-dollar donations from supporters of Mr. Sanders’ presidential campaign who were aggrieved over Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s handling of the presidential race in her former role. The incumbent congresswoman held off college professor Tim Canova, 57-43 percent.
“Rubio is faring better than Trump and has a roughly five-point polling edge over Murphy”, Sabato wrote.
Many of those races have been marked by the familiar national dynamic pitting establishment-vs. -insurgents – but with local twists.
Brown lost to longtime state lawmaker Al Lawson, who has previously run for Congress.
A four-way race to fill Grayson’s seat south of Orlando includes his wife and his former district manager. The victor will take on the newly vulnerable incumbent, Republican Carlos Curbelo, who beat Garcia in 2014.
United States Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) handily beat former state Sen.
In the Atlantic-coast 18th district, left open by Murphy, wounded veteran Brian Mast was buoyed to victory by national conservative groups over Rebecca Negron, whose husband is president of the state Senate. The seat is now held by Rep. Gwen Graham (D-FL), the daughter of former Florida governor and senator Bob Graham, who announced she was leaving Congress earlier this year.
On the Democratic side, the battle between Mr. Grayson and Mr. Murphy looked like it would turn into a proxy fight between progressive and centrist Democrats.
But Grayson’s claim as a liberal firebrand was tarnished by a major ethics complaint and domestic violence reports, while Murphy has largely weathered unflattering scrutiny of his resume to build a significant lead in recent polls. Until Rubio decided in June to seek another term, it was expected that Murphy’s Republican challenger would also be a lesser known candidate. Patrick Murphy (“he has not had to struggle a single day in his life”) and Alan Grayson (“who frankly I don’t think is well”). McCain needs to beat Ann Kirkpatrick, who won her Arizona senate primary unopposed for the Democrats. He gigged Rubio for being unwilling to commit to serving out a full six-year term, if re-elected in November.
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Trump visited Phoenix late Wednesday after a visit to Mexico, but McCain, who avoids talking about Trump or appearing with him, did not plan to attend the businessman’s speech on immigration. “He’s not a maverick any more because he doesn’t even stand up to Donald Trump”, she said.
