Florida Primaries - Breaking down the results

Yesterday was primary Election Day across Florida, and of course, there were big winners and big losers.

The Ups

• Seven Democrats were elected to the Florida House, after winning their primaries with no general election opponent, in Districts 46, 61, 87, 88, 100, 109, 113 [source]
• Jeff Clemens just barely beat Mack Bernard in the Democratic primary for Senate District 27. Clemens is a strong Democrat endorsed by the teachers and firefighters, while Bernard received thousands of dollars from business and special interest groups in the election. The vote tally has Clemens ahead by less than 50 votes, and ballots are being recounted now. Here’s hoping Clemens holds onto his win. [source, source]
• Dwight Bullard bested outgoing House Minority Leader Ron Saunders in their Democratic primary for Senate District 39. Saunders was the moderate-right candidate backed by the NRA and others. Bullard, a school teacher, had the support of schoolteachers and won big in Miami-Dade county. He won the primary with 35% of the vote to Saunders’ 30% [source]
• Democrat Joe Saunders won in District 49 against Shayan Elahi - the race seemed close for a while but Joe ultimately pulled 65% of the vote. [source]
• In the Senate District 12 primary, Geraldine Thompson beat Victoria Siplin 56% - 40%. Siplin is the wife of outgoing Democratic Senator Gary Siplin, who has repeatedly voted with the Republicans in the Florida Senate on issues such as school prayer, anti-choice bills, and more. [source]

The Unexpecteds

• Aaron Bosshardt, a targeted candidate for the Florida Democratic Party, lost in an upset to Andrew Morey in the House District 21 primary. Morey will face incumbent Republican Keith Perry in November [source]
• Incumbent Congressman John Mica easily beat fellow Congresswoman Sandy Adams in their Republican primary. Mica is considered mainstream conservative, and Adams has been the voice of the Tea Party. I prefer to Mica to Adams; he is the less-extreme option. [source]
• Republican Ted Yoho came out of nowhere to beat incumbent congressman Cliff Stearns, who has been in office for more than 20 years. Yoho is a Tea Party large animal veterinarian, and the vote count shows him leading by about 100 votes. If you haven’t seen his weird TV ad, you should watch it.

You can see vote totals and results for all the Florida primaries on the Division of Elections website.