Florida's Rick Scott, Matt Gaetz to face primary challengers as several states head to polls Tuesday
Republicans and Democrats head to the polls Tuesday to choose their party's nominee in primary races across Florida, Wyoming and Alaska.
Republicans will keep a keen eye on the Florida primary races of Rep. Matt Gaetz, amid his feud with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Sen. Rick Scott, who hopes to lead the party in the Senate next Congress.
Scott is expected to easily win his primary race on Tuesday against two candidates with little name recognition or financial backing. The Democrat primary, however, is more contentious, with a race between former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Navy veteran and businessman Stanley Campbell, Army veteran and businessman Rod Joseph, and Brian Rush, a former four-term Florida state representative.
Mucarsel-Powell, who in 2018 became the first Ecuadorian American and first South American-born woman elected to Congress, is the favorite among the Democrats. She lost her former House seat after just one term.
Scott in May officially announced his bid for Republican leader in the next Senate after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he'd be stepping down.
"I have decided to run for Senate Republican leader because I believe now is a moment we need dramatic change," he wrote in a letter to fellow Senate Republicans.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is also gaining attention, largely because McCarthy’s political committee has spent $3 million attacking him and backing his primary opponent, former Navy aviator Aaron Dimmock.
Gaetz led a group of eight Republicans to oust McCarthy from the speakership with the help of Democrat members last year.
McCarthy's attacks on Gaetz stem from a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and drug use. But the allegations aren’t new, and Gaetz has a loyal following in his district, making an upset unlikely. Since winning office in 2016, Gaetz has easily won primaries with between 65% and 80% of the vote, the Associated Press reported.
Outside of Gaetz's race, incumbents are running for 27 of Florida's 28 House seats, and all should be safe in the primary barring any surprises, the Associated Press reported.
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., a military veteran and first-term Republican, is running for re-election in Florida's 7th Congressional District. He is facing a challenge from small business owner Jennifer Adams, who labeled herself a moderate and Mills an "extremist incumbent."
Gen Z Democrat Rep. Maxwell Frost is up for re-election in Florida's 10th Congressional District. Frost, 26, formerly worked for the anti-gun group March for Our Lives and is expected to speak at the DNC later this week.
On the state and local front, for the first time ever, Florida Democrats have fielded a candidate for all 120 state House and 40 state Senate seats. Still, the GOP built a strong supermajority in both chambers, and Republicans will likely maintain their dominance in the legislature in November.
The AP reported that at the voter deadline for the primary, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 5.3 million to 4.3 million, with 3.5 million voters choosing not to register with a party.
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Meanwhile, in Alaska, both parties are fighting for control of Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola's seat, which had been in Republican hands for decades until Rep. Don Young died in 2022. Peltola has served since 2022 after winning the seat in a special election.
Peltola will face Republicans Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and Nick Begich, who shares a name with his late grandfather, a Democrat congressman who was on a plane that disappeared in 1972, according to the AP.
In Wyoming, Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman faces a primary challenge from Steven Helling, who has yet to report any fundraising to the Federal Election Commission. Hageman, the freshman congresswoman, defeated Rep. Liz Cheney in 2022.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso, who has served Wyoming since 2007, faces businessman Reid Rasner, though Barrasso is expected to win handily.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.