Both Rubio and Murphy won their party primaries handily on Tuesday, setting up a general election race that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
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But Rubio, a Republican star player who endured the wrath of Donald Trump on the Republican presidential debate stage, is not a typical candidate when it comes to his rhetorical skills.
While the similarity is that both Rubio and Murphy skipped debates with their primary rivals and both went on to huge wins, the former Republican presidential candidate beat Carlos Beruff by nearly 54 points on Tuesday and Murphy overpowered fellow Congressman Alan Grayson by 41 points.
The Associated Press also projected that congressman Murphy had won the Democratic primary in the state by a margin of 59 to 18 percentage points.
McCain was leading Ward by 55 percent to 29 percent in a CNN opinion poll released last week.
However, the victory doesn’t clear the way to a smooth re-election for McCain. The rest of the votes were divided among two other candidates. Democrats think Trump’s past incendiary comments about Hispanics and his hardline stance on immigration will turn off a key segment of Florida voters, and the spillover will harm Rubio. With 89 percent of the precincts reporting, Gimenez had received 47 percent to Regalado’s 32 percent.
Canova had raised about $3.3 million, an extraordinary amount for a primary challenger with no political experience.
And in a closely watched race, U.S. Rep.
Brown lost to longtime state lawmaker Al Lawson, who has previously run for Congress. Murphy said Grayson’s “words and actions have disqualified him from public service”.
Many of those races have been marked by the familiar national dynamic pitting establishment-vs. -insurgents – but with local twists. In the redrawn 2nd District, surgeon Neal Dunn eked out a victory over lawyer Mary Thomas, who had garnered support from national conservative groups such as the Club for Growth. The GOP now holds a total of 54 seats, while Democrats and two independents who usually vote with them have 46. Can Murphy overcome his disadvantages and unseat Rubio?
Democrats hope to gain seats in Florida’s heavily Republican U.S. House delegation after court-mandated redistricting chipped away the advantages of some incumbents.
Garcia will face Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo in November. Darren Soto beat back an attempt by Dena Grayson – wife of the incumbent – to fill her husband’s seat. She was one of the first blacks elected to Congress from Florida since Reconstruction.
The general election in Florida, the largest swing state in a presidential year, is expected to be critical to Democratic hopes to recapture the majority in the Senate. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) defeated in a landslide a millionaire primary challenger who backed Donald Trump and had the backing of Ann Coulter.
Even before his primary win, Murphy had been looking past his fight against Rep. Alan Grayson.
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.
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Now, Rubio says he wants to serve in the Senate – at least for the time being.
