Last week was an exciting one in Florida, with both parties having picked their respective nominees. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio sailed to victory capturing over 90 percent of his party’s vote for United States Senate. On the Democratic side, longtime Miami Congressman Kendrick Meek was able to defeat his billionaire opponent, politcal neophyte Jeff Greene with 57% of his party’s vote.
Pam Bondi, a Tampa Bay area prosecutor and Fox News legal analyst who has never run for office, won the GOP nomination for Attorney General. She defeated Charlie Crist’s Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp and former legislator Holly Benson. She will be facing Democratic State Senator Dan Gelber, who defeated one of his colleagues, State Senator Dave Aaronberg.
The most hotly contested race by far was the GOP primary race for governor, which pitted Attorney General Bill McCollum against millionaire entrepreneur Rick Scott. This was a fascinating race to watch, as the entire Republican establishment sided with McCollum in lock step. The state Republican Party went so far as to even partially bankroll McCollum’s campaign in the final days of the primary, which political parties in Florida generally reserve for extreme cases such as trying to knock out fringe candidates.
Scott went on to win his party’s nomination 46% to 43%, which will now pit him against Florida’s current CFO and Democratic nominee for governor, Alex Sink. Polls show Scott with a slight lead in that race.
The governor’s race is set to be a hard fought battle on both sides. Advocates of economic liberty agree, however, that regardless of who wins in November, Florida will be in much better hands going into 2011 given Governor Charlie Crist’s apparent contempt for pro-free market reforms to the state’s problems.
Until next week,
Christian Cámara
Florida Director
