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.
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Jewish supporters of both Rubio and Murphy predicted a win for their guy.
With 93 percent of the vote in, Rubio was up 72-19 percent over developer Carlos Beruff, who spent more than $8 million of his own money on the race.
Each candidate also says the other shares blame for Congress’ failure to pass a funding bill to combat the Zika virus.
Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy will go head-to-head with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio in November.
Other key congressional races were decided Tuesday in the two states.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez was confident he would stop his challenger Raquel Regalado on primary night, but he did not capture more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff.
Rubio’s victory comes after a last-minute decision to seek a second term after a failed presidential bid and a decision not to run for re-election.
“Marco Rubio is the worst of Washington because he puts himself first every time”, he said.
The race is critically important in the Democrats’ strategy to win control of the United States Senate. “No one can make that commitment because you don’t know what the future’s going to hold in your life personally or politically”, he said. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Florida three times to campaign with Murphy.
Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association announced Thursday that Republican U.S. Sen.
Not to be outdone, Murphy countered that his opponent personifies the most contemptible aspects of Beltway politics. Even before he refused to commit, about 53 percent percent of Florida voters said they think Rubio is running for Senate so he can run for president, according to a recent Monmouth University poll (2020 is in four years, for anyone who’s counting). “After spending the summer running from scandal and avoiding voters, Murphy has given Floridians little reason to believe he’ll work on their behalf in Washington”. As Donald Trump’s polls numbers continue to slide, Murphy’s strategy has been to tie Rubio to the Republican presidential nominee. In early August, he moved Florida’s Senate race from the toss-up category to a race that leans in Rubio’s favor.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, Murphy’s primary race wasn’t much of a contest either.
But Grayson’s campaign was essentially capsized when his ex-wife accused him of domestic violence.
In his victory speech, Murphy took shots at Rubio’s comments this week about possibly not serving his full term if he’s reelected.
Florida Public Radio will simulcast the debate, which also is expected to be broadcast on TV stations throughout the state.
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A similar dynamic was at play in the Jacksonville-area 4th District, being vacated by Crenshaw, where former county sheriff John Rutherford beat Hans Tanzler III, an attorney, and Lake Ray, a state lawmaker, who had both sought to portray Rutherford as insufficiently conservative for the safely Republican seat.
