Florida Banking October/November 2024

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

THE PRIMARIES ARE OVER – DID YOU VOTE?

BY ANTHONY DIMARCO FBA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

T he primary elections were held on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The votes were tallied and the battle lines are now drawn for the Nov. 5 general election. Thank you if you were one of the more than 3 million voters who voted in the primary. The turnout was only 22.39 percent of the eligible voters. Please be sure to vote in the 2026 primary. Besides your local elections, many state and federal elections are decided in the primary – one party has a majority voter registration in a district, and that party’s primary winner likely will win the general election. Some seats are decided outright in the primary if the other major party does not field a candidate, as no third-party or write-in candidate has ever been elected to a state office. In the federal primaries, there were no surprises as the incumbents handily won. There will be 28 Florida federal races for the general election. Sen. Rick Scott (R) will face Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) in the U.S. Senate election. Twenty-seven of the 28 congressional seats will be on the general election ballot as well. Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus McCormick was re-elected without opposition. The Florida House and Senate primaries were held as well. No incumbents lost any of their primaries. Two Senate incumbents were elected: Sen. Tracie Davis (D) only has a write-in candidate left and Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D) has no general election opponent. Former Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) and Mack Bernard (D) were elected without opposition. There will be 16 Florida Senate races from around the state on the Nov. 5 ballot. An interesting side note on the rising cost of elections: the race for the Republican primary for Senate District 7 was a costly election. The primary

pitted the business community and Gov. DeSantis’ endorsed Rep. Tom Leek against the plaintiff’s attorneys and former President Donald Trump’s endorsed David Shoar (there was a third Republican candidate, Gerry James, who did not raise nearly the same amount of campaign contributions). It has been estimated that if this race was for Congress, it would have been the third most expensive race across the country. The amounts spent in Florida elections will only continue to rise. In the Florida House elections, all incumbents won their primaries. Eighteen Florida House members have now been elected: Reps. Angie Nixon (D), Kimberly Daniels (D) and Marie Woodson (D) have write-in or third-party candidates left for the general election. Incumbent Reps. Bruce Antone (D), Rita Harris (D), Daryl Campbell (D) and Ashley Gantt (D) do not have any opponents for the general election. Mitch Rosenwald and Wallace Aristide won open Democratic seats in South Florida and have no general election opponents. Finally, Reps. Yvonne Hayes Hinson (D), Jervonte Edmonds (D), Kelly Skidmore (D), Christine Hunschofsky (D), Dan Daley (D), Lisa Dunkley (D), Hillary Cassel (D), Felicia Robinson(D) and Dotie Joseph (D) were re-elected without opposition. There will be 103 Florida House races on the Nov. 5 ballot. The FBA will monitor all federal and state races and report the results to you. How can you help? Please let us know of any candidates you are supporting in the federal or state general races. We welcome any on-the-ground information in a race. Kenneth, Gina and I will be fanning out across the state to help candidates of both parties in the

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