Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis knows he will face former Gov. Charlie Crist in this year’s gubernatorial race. Crist once held the office as a Republican, but eventually switched parties.
Val Demings, a former police chief in Orlando, now hopes to become Florida’s next U.S. Senator. Demings won her Democratic primary Tuesday night and now advances to the general election, where she will face Republican incumbent Marco Rubio in November.
Jerry Nadler was the winner of the 12th Congressional District race in New York on Tuesday, defeating longtine ally-turned-rival Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the Manhattan district.
An independent mapmaker drew their two two districts together, meaning one would lose their term in office.
Demings will face Republican incumbent Marco Rubio in November.
Results are projections by CNN and Tampa 10.
Crist had won 60 percent of the vote by 8 p.m. ET, which is when the final polls closed in Florida. Most of the state’s populous voted by 7 p.m. ET, but the panhandle still had voters in the straggling hour.
Here are CNN’s other projected winners of Democratic races in Florida.
14th Congressional District, incumbent Kathy Castor 20th Congressional District, incumbent Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick 23rd Congressional District, Jared Moskowitz 24th Congressional District, incumbent Frederica Wilson is the projected winner. 27th Congressional District, Annette Taddeo 28th Congressional District, Robert Asencio
DeSantis has emerged as a top choice among Republicans for a 2024 White House run, though former President Donald Trump still tops DeSantis in most recent polls. In the meantime, DeSantis is hoping to secure his second term as Florida’s governor.
Charlie Crist, Nikki Fried, Cadance Daniel and Robert Willis are the four Democrats running in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary. Recent polling has shown Crist and Fried emerging as the top picks among likely voters.
Crist currently represents Florida’s 13th District in the House, a seat he has held since 2017. He previously served one term as Florida’s governor while he was a registered Republican but has since shifted his allegiance to the Democratic Party.
Fried currently serves as Florida’s agriculture commissioner, a position she has held since 2019. While one recent University of North Florida poll found Fried leading Crist by 4 points, another voter survey by St. Pete Polls found Crist ahead by double digits.
Polls close at 7 p.m. local time in Florida, but the state is in two time zones. Most of the state, including Tallahassee, Gainesville, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami, are in the Eastern Time Zone, which means their polls are closing now. Much of the panhandle, everywhere from Pensacola to Panama City and in between, are in the Central Time Zone, so there’s still time left to vote.
Anyone voting in person was, or is, required to have non-expired, valid photo identification.
Polls in New York opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 9 p.m. New York is entirely in eastern time.
Oklahoma’s polls close at 7 p.m. CT.
In the minute-long ad, DeSantis appears dressed like Maverick, the character Cruise plays in the 1986 original film and in the sequel released earlier this year.
The ad, which the first lady of Florida shared Monday on Twitter, mimics the “Top Gun” program that appeared in both films as DeSantis walks viewers through three “rules of engagement” in a program the ad refers to as “Top Gov.”
“Today’s training evolution: dog fighting. Taking on the corporate media,” DeSantis says near the top of the ad, which includes a Florida location mark labeled “Freedom Headquarters.”
The campaign ad was released hours before Florida voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in the state’s primary election. DeSantis, who is up for re-election, is expected to learn which Democrat will face him in Florida’s gubernatorial election this fall.
States across the country have reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision reversing Roe v. Wade differently, with many conservative states taking steps to restrict abortion access while some Democratic states moved to expand access.
Florida and New York, both of which have primary elections on Tuesday, have made different moves on abortion since the Supreme Court’s decision. In Florida, a new 15-week ban on abortion went into effect earlier this summer. In New York, the state’s Democratic governor invested money this summer that is meant to expand abortion access to people throughout the state.
The amount of importance voters place on abortion has increased in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling. According to a survey from Pew Research Center, about 43 percent of voters identified abortion as a “very important” issue in March, a number that jumped to 56 percent by August. Pew researchers said that rise is largely driven by left-leaning voters.
Both Maloney and Nadler have represented different parts of New York since the 1990s. Maloney represented New York’s 14th District from 1993 to 2013 and has in the years since represented New York’s 12th District. Nadler previously represented New York’s 17th and 8th districts from the early 1990s through 2013, at which time he began serving as the congressman for District 10.
Recent redistricting means the two Democrats, who currently represent different parts of Manhattan, will battle for the 12th District seat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Former President Donald Trump appeared to share fake endorsements of Maloney and Nadler leading up to the primary election. Trump commented on the race again on Monday in two separate posts on Truth Social.
In the posts, Trump described Nadler as “the dynamo that Washington needs” but said Nadler’s opponent is “both physically and mentally stronger than him.” Of Maloney, Trump said she “accepted many of my campaign contributions in the good old days, and she has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Maloney responded to Trump’s “fake ’endorsement’” last week on Twitter, writing that Trump “doesn’t know that NYers see through his trolling.”
“What is clear is I’m the candidate he’s most afraid will win,” Maloney wrote.
