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ORLANDO | Florida voters in the I-4 corridor did not turn out in droves for the primary elections Aug. 23, with less than a quarter of those eligible actually casting a ballot, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The voters who did turn out were keen on sending Central Floridians to the general election as U.S. Rep Val Demings and attorney Aramis Ayala, both from Orlando, won their primaries for their statewide races.
Demings overwhelmingly won her primary with 84.3% of the vote. Demings had three challengers — Brian Rush, William Sanchez and Ricardo De La Fuente — but none of them managed to even get 10% of the vote. Demings will meet incumbent Florida Senator Marco Rubio in November.
Incumbent Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, will go up against Ayala, a Democrat, in November. Ayala bested Daniel Uhlfelder and Jim Lewis winning 45% of the vote with Uhlfelder coming in second with 28.2% and Lewis at the bottom with 26.9%.
Looking to the U.S. House of Representatives and its newly redrawn district map, District 7 incumbent Stephanie Murphy decided not to seek re-election leaving the seat open. The crowded field of four Democrats and five Republicans was narrowed down to Democrat Karen Green, who won 44.9% of the vote, taking on Republican Corey Mills, who won 37.9% of the vote.
In District 8, Democrat Joanne Terry won 54.6% of the vote leaving her to face incumbent Republican Bill Posey and, in District 9, Republican Scotty Moore won easily with 55.9%. He will face incumbent Democrat Darren Soto.
In District 10, which is Demings’ current Congressional seat, Democrat Maxwell Frost came out on top with 34.7% of the vote. If Frost is able to defeat Republican Calvin Wimbish, who won his primary with 44.4% of the vote, in November then he would become the first Gen Z to serve in Congress.
In District 11, Republican Daniel Webster won 51% of the vote, setting him up to meet incumbent Democrat Shante Munns in the general election.
In key Legislative races, Geraldine Thompson won the Democratic primary against Kamia Brown for Senate District 15, 53.2% to 46.8%. That seat was previously held by Randolph Bracy who left to run for Congressional House District 10. In state House District 44, which only had two Democrats vying for the seat, Jennifer “Rita” Harris defeat incumbent Daisy Morales 54.2% to 45.8%.
Among notable LGBTQ candidates, Republican and Trump supporter Randy Ross lost his run for state House District 39 coming in third with 16.8% of the vote against Doug Bankson, who won 53%, and Charles Hart, who took 30.2%. Openly gay attorney Michael Morris also lost is bid for Orange County Judge, Group 8, against Elizabeth Josephine Starr. Starr took 67.1% of the vote to Morris’ 32.9.
Well known LGBTQ allies Jerry Demings and Teresa Jacobs both easily won re-election. Demings winning a second term as Orange County Mayor with 59.38% of the vote and Jacobs, Demings’ predecessor, was re-elected to Orange County School Board Chair with 68.98% of the vote.
The general election will be Nov. 8.
For a full list of Central Florida’s primary election results — including races in Orange, Volusia, Osceola, Brevard and Seminole Counties — check out WESH 2’s election coverage here.
