US’ Primary Tuesday Showdown: What’s Happening in Oklahoma, New York & Florida?
03:18 GMT 24.08.2022 (Updated: 10:57 GMT 11.03.2024)
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It was a big election day in the United States on Tuesday, with three states holding primaries or special elections. Election results are in for Florida, New York and Oklahoma. With one district still too close to call.
Florida
A lack of competitiveness in Florida has led to the primary elections becoming more important than the general election in many parts of the state. One exception is the governorship, with Democrats hoping to recapture the spot for the first time since 1994.
Florida primary voters cast their ballots on Tuesday and we now know who will be the Democratic challenger against Ron DeSantis in the gubernatorial election in November. Charlie Crist has won the nomination with 59.0% of the vote, trumping Nikki Fried’s 35.5%.
I’m Charlie Crist and I’m proud to be your Florida Democratic nominee that will defeat Ron DeSantis this November.
— Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) August 24, 2022
Charlie Crist will be a familiar name for Florida voters in November; he was governor of the state as a Republican from 2007 to 2011. He also ran for Senate as an independent in 2010 and ran for governor as a Democrat in 2014. He has served in Congress as a representative for the St. Petersburg area since 2017.
Nikki Fried, the agricultural commissioner of Florida is currently the only Democrat to hold a statewide office in Florida. She would have become the first female governor of Florida had she defeated Crist and then DeSantis.
The two other candidates in the race, Robery Willis and Candance Daniel, received 3% and 2.5% of the vote, respectively.
Recent polling suggests a close race for the governor's mansion in November. The Real Clear Politics average shows DeSantis leading Crist by 6.2 points. However, Democrats are expected to put a lot of weight behind the election. DeSantis is a rising star in the Republican party and may run for president in 2024. They hope to handicap his campaign by handing him a loss before the presidential campaign season starts next year.
Most of Florida’s districts are either safe Republican or safe Democrat, making the primary elections the true decider of who will win in November. The lone exception to that is the 27th district, which leans only slightly Democratic.
There State Senator Annette Taddeo faced Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell for the Democratic nomination. Taddeo won easily, with NBC news calling the race before 7:30. He will face Republican Maria Elvira Salazar in the November election. While the district leans slightly Democratic, Taddeo will face an uphill battle. Salazar, who is Cuban American, is slightly favored to win the latino-heavy Miami district.
Taddeo also briefly ran for the Democratic nomination for governor, but dropped out early in the race. A third candidate, Angel Montalvo, was a non-factor in the race, securing less than 6% of the vote. At press time, Taddeo secured 67.8% of the vote, while Russell currently holds 26% with 78% reporting.
Congrats @Annette_Taddeo!! Proud to be supporting you and your team. Time to get real leadership for Miami-Dade back to congress! Pa’Lante!! pic.twitter.com/DaRLhKoBxz
— Julio E. Ligorría (@MisterJuly) August 24, 2022
In the 1st District, embattled Matt Gaetz won his primary challenge from former Marine and FedEx executive Mark Lombardo. Gaetz is currently under federal investigation related to his alleged connection with former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg who pleaded guilty to six felonies, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Gaetz has not been charged in the case as of yet and denies any wrongdoing. Republican voters have seemingly given the three term congressman a strong endorsement, with more than 69% of primary supporters backing him.
Former Department of Health employee Rebekah Jones won the Democratic nomination for District 1 and will face Gaetz in November. The district is solidly Republican, so Jones is unlikely to make it a race unless Gaetz’s scandals sink his approval rating with voters.
Congressman @MattGaetz’s first reaction to his landslide primary win:
— Joel Valdez (@realJoelValdez) August 24, 2022
“This is a fighting district, and for two more years they’ll have a FIGHTING congressman.” 🇺🇸🔥 pic.twitter.com/mS4GRoirea
The heavy Democratic 23rd district opened up after incumbent Ted Deutch announced that he will resign in the fall. Broward County Commissioner Jared Moskowitz easily defeated a field of six candidates with 61.2% of the vote. Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Ben Sorensen came in a distant second with 20.5% with 94% of the vote reported.
District 7, currently held by Democratic moderate Stephanie Murphy, is expected to fall to the Republicans in November because redistricting caused it to move further to the right. Murphy decided against running for reelection. Eight candidates ran for the nomination, with Cory Mills edging out the field with 36.5% of the vote, with 92% counted. State Representative Anthony Sabatini came in second with 22.6%
Congratulations to @CoryMillsFL on winning the primary for FL-07! pic.twitter.com/ldNvCLmn4x
— GOP (@GOP) August 24, 2022
That is not the highest number of candidates; District 10’s seat went up for grabs after Democrat Val Demings announced she is leaving the seat to challenge Marco Rubio in the Senate. Ten Democrats ran for the nomination, with Maxwell Alejandro Frost defeating State Senator Randolph Bracy, former Representative Alan Grayson, and four other candidates with 34% of the vote with 95% reporting. Frost is expected to win the heavily Democratic-leaning district in November and calls himself a gun control advocate.
Val Demings secured her party’s nomination on Tuesday, easily defeating Brian Rush and William Sanchez with more than 84% of the vote with 79% reporting.
The 4th district had the possibility of being close with not a lot of polling being done in the district. However, the State Senate President Pro Tempore Aaron Bean easily defeated Navy veteran Erick Anguilar with 68.6% of the vote with 99% reporting. The result is not a surprise, with Bean leading in the few polls that were done in the area, but Anguilar had outspent Bean during the campaign and therefore was thought to be a credible challenger.
In the Florida elections that had them, incumbents won every contest. Daniel Webster in the 11th district was the closest to losing his spot, but he held on with 50.7% of the vote, defeating his challenger, far-right candidate Laura Loomer, who secured 44.5% of the vote.
New York
New York had to run a special election after a judge ruled that the congressional map drawn up by Democrats was overly partisan. The result was electoral madness, with districts being combined and redrawn and incumbents changing districts in an attempt to stay in office.
Low turnout was the defining characteristic of New York’s second primary election of the year, with reports indicating that most polling stations had no line. Nevertheless, the primary election likely determined multiple seats, with many districts in New York remaining uncompetitive in the general elections.
The most high-profile race in Tuesday’s elections was in the 12th district, which had combined the east and west sides of Manhattan into one district for the first time since before World War II.
This pitted two longtime allies against each other who had served in Congress together for more than three decades. Jerrold Nadler defeated Carolyn B. Maloney with 56% of the vote to Maloney’s 26%, with 66% reporting. Outsider candidate Suraj Patel also entered the race and managed to secure 17% of the vote, but could not overcome the other candidates’ name recognition and funding.
CBS News projects incumbent Rep. Jerrold Nadler wins the Democratic nomination for U.S. House of Representatives in NY-12, defeating fellow incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney. pic.twitter.com/kRFpVKNewQ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 24, 2022
Since Nadler left the 10th district to run for election in the 12th, his seat was left open. That left several progressives in the party and billionaire Daniel Goldman to fight over the vacant seat.
Progressives feared that the left wing of the party would split its vote, handing the nomination to Goldman. That appears to be what happened, with progressive candidates Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, Representative Mondaire Jones, and Council Member Carlina Rivera combining for 59% of the vote, easily enough to topple Goldman’s 25.6% had they been combined. Niou is currently in second, with 24% of the vote with 89% reporting. With roughly 1,000 votes separating Goldman and Niou, the race is considered too close to call and a recount is likely.
Rivera enters to applause as the NY1 chyron reads “Goldman and Niou in close race” pic.twitter.com/mkyRSiaz9o
— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) August 24, 2022
Meanwhile, in the 17th District, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Patrick Maloney found himself in a competitive race against Alessandra Biaggi. Maloney angered some Democrats by switching districts, which forced Mondaire Jones to join the race in the 10th district. Despite this, Maloney held onto his seat, defeating Biaggi easily on election night. Maloney will face Republican Mike Lawler, who should make the general election competitive.
Not every race in New York was a primary election. In the 19th district, the state ran a special election to replace Antonio Delgado, who stepped down after being tapped to serve as the state’s lieutenant governor. In what is being called a test case of how voters will respond to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade and end federal abortion protections, Democrat Pat Ryan faced off against Republican Marc Molinaro.
Ryan made abortion rights the cornerstone of his campaign, while Molinaro avoided the subject as much as he could. The strategy worked for Ryan, who won the district with 62% of the vote. The 19th district is purple, known to go for Republicans and Democrats, so Ryan’s win says a lot about how the November midterm elections may turn out.
🚨BREAKING🚨
— The Political HQ (@ThePoliticalHQ) August 24, 2022
In what many consider to be an absolute upset, Democrat Pat Ryan has defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in New York’s 19th Congressional District Special Election.
Polls had Molinaro up by 8 points just weeks ago.#Election2022 #ElectionDay #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/xj4aaJhmQM
A vote in Kansas protecting abortion rights gave Democrats hope that the abortion issue will motivate voters to the polls in November, but the 19th district election is seen as more significant because it was a general election rather than focusing on one issue like the Kansas vote.
Republicans weren’t excused from the election chaos created by the judge’s decision to redistrict the state. In the Republican-heavy 23rd district, which covers Buffalo’s suburbs and the southwest portion of the state, a primary election was held to replace Representative Chris Jacobs, who announced he will not seek reelection after breaking with his party on gun control.
Carl Paladino defeated Nick Langworthy to capture the party’s nomination to succeed him. Paladino is a far-right candidate who has received criticism for sharing a post on his Facebook profile that implied the Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas shootings were false flag events. He also found himself in hot water after an interview from 2021 resurfaced in which Paladino said America needs a charismatic leader like Adolf Hitler. His campaign has said that statement was taken out of context.
Today is ELECTION DAY. We need all Republican patriots to flood the polls today. I would be honored to have your vote. I will always fight for you! pic.twitter.com/pW3SaKlbKq
— Carl Paladino (@CarlPaladinoNY) August 23, 2022
Paladino will face Democrat Max Della Pia in the general election, which Paladino is expected to win.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma held a special run-off election on Tuesday after two candidates failed to reach 50% of the vote in the June 28th Republican primary. Oklahoma is a heavily Republican state, meaning its primary elections essentially decide who will be elected in November.
Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe announced earlier this year that he will be retiring at the end of this congressional session. That set off a battle for his seat in the Republican primary, with 13 candidates entering the field. Representative Markwayne Mullin won that contest with 44% of the vote, but since he did not reach the 50% threshold, that triggered a run-off election with State House Speaker T.W. Shannon, who received 18% of the vote.
The run-off went much like the June 28th primary, with Mullin winning handily. The Associated Press called the race with less than 16% of the vote reporting. Currently, Mullin leads Shannon with 64.4% of the vote.
Bravo to @MarkwayneMullin on winning the Republican primary for Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate seat! Your conservative leadership is needed now more than ever. pic.twitter.com/bf4b32Y0U7
— GOP (@GOP) August 24, 2022
Mullin will face Madison Horn, who won the Democratic primary runoff election for senator against Jason Bollinger. Horn will have a tough fight against Mullin; the last Democrat to represent the state in the Senate was David Boren, who left office in 1994.
But since Mullin left his seat in the second district, that triggered another election, one that was much closer. State Senator Josh Brecheen faced off against State Representative Avery Frix. In their crowded June primary, neither candidate separated themselves, with Brecheen receiving 15% and Avery receiving 14% of the vote. That split was mirrored in the runoff election, with Brecheen narrowly defeating Frix with 52.2% of the vote.
