Florida primary sees unlikely challenges to Matt Gaetz and Rick Scott

Tuesday is the day of the Florida primary elections. Two prominent Republicans, Senator Rick Scott and Congressman Matt Gaetz, are facing primary challengers.

Gaetz' main opponent in the primary is Navy veteran Aaron Dimmock. Dimmock is backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with McCarthy's PAC spending $3 million on his campaign, according to Fox News. Gaetz famously led the charge to boot McCarthy from the speaker role in late 2023 after McCarthy negotiated with House Democrats to keep the government from shutting down.

However, it appears unlikely that Dimmock will be able to unseat Gaetz. The controversial congressman is very popular in his district, and a poll taken last month showed Gaetz with a 47% lead over Dimmock.

READ MORE: Matt Gaetz Ethics Committee Sexual Misconduct and Drug Use Probe Expands

While Gaetz has just one challenger, Scott's facing two: attorney Keith Gross and actor John Columbus. Scott has the biggest campaign budget of the three as well as the endorsement from former President Donald Trump. The power of Trump's endorsement has faltered slightly in this election, but the former President holds a lot of sway in Florida.

In addition, most pollsters have assumed the final Senate race will be between Scott and former Representative Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Mucarsel-Powell has been endorsed by President Joe Biden, and has outraised her primary opponent, businessman Stanley Campbell. Campbell has been endorsed by Florida's AFL-CIO and the state's Democratic Black Caucus.

The Florida primary isn't the only election happening Tuesday. Alaska and Wyoming are also holding their primaries. Wyoming's Republican primary is between moderate Wyoming Caucus candidates and far-right Freedom Caucus candidates, according to USA Today, and could reflect which way the GOP will lean going forward.

Alaska uses a non-partisan primary system using ranked choice voting. Democratic Rep. Nancy Peltola, the first Alaska Native person elected, is the incumbent; she's going up against 11 other candidates. Only one of her opponents is a fellow Democrat, however. The rest are either Republican or identify as nonpartisan or from small parties. Peltola won her 2022 election with 55% of the vote, versus former Governor Sarah Palin's 45%.