Vote 2024: Central Florida Primary Election watch

Some Florida counties had difficulty Tuesday reporting primary election results to the public because of an unspecified glitch involving a vendor, state officials said.

Secretary of State Cord Byrd said at a news conference that counties using the vendor VR Systems reported the issue, which included websites timing out.

“This was an issue with their public-facing websites. It had nothing to do with the data or the votes being transmitted to the Department of State,” Byrd said.

A person who answered the phone at VR Systems forwarded The Associated Press to COO Ben Martin, who did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment.

The elections supervisor in Hillsborough County, Craig Latimer, said in a statement that the unknown problem caused “intermittent down time and slowness” on its websites but there was no interference with tabulation of votes.

“The public website is completely separate from the vote tabulation system, voter registration system or election night results reporting website,” according to the statement.

VR Systems Chief Operating Officer Ben Martin provided this statement:

We share everyone’s sense of urgency to identify why people may have experienced problems accessing our customers' websites. First and foremost, the election night reporting of the unofficial results was not impacted, and there is no indication of malicious activity.

Some counties reported that their websites were experiencing intermittent downtime and slowness. We know the public expects responsive websites, and we immediately assigned a full team to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. We have now fully restored our customers’ websites.

Based on our analysis of today’s event, we believe the logging that was enabled as a security measure was at the root of the issues that our customers experienced. This log records the action on the content management system serving our customers' websites. Late in the day, it began to grow exponentially due to the increase in traffic to the websites. We believe this put extraordinary stress on the system.

While we worked to fix the issue, we had to ensure the public could access election night reporting through our customers’ websites. To do this, we created and posted a webpage available to the public that included links to the unofficial election night results posted by each county.

With our customer’s websites fully restored, we have begun working with external technical experts to assist us with further analyzing and optimizing our system to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe and challenger State Sen. Linda Stewart will be settling their race for the District 3 chair in November.

The incumbent, Uribe, received 44.7% of the vote, according to Orange County's unofficial results. Stewart was a former Orange County commissioner having served in 2002. She received 34.69% of Tuesday's vote.

"Thank you for your support, love, and efforts that have led me to a run-off in the District 3 county commission race. I am grateful!" Stewart tweeted.

Gus Martinez was the third candidate in the District 3 race and received 20.61% of the vote.

The commission seat for Orange County District 1 is too close to call and will head to a recount.

Incumbent Nicole Wilson (50.01%) narrowly beat out challenger Austin Arthur (49.99%), according to Orange County's unofficial results.

Florida law states that when a count falls within 0.5% of the vote a recount will begin.

The District 1 area includes West Orange County covering Winter Garden, Windermere, and Disney property. Commissioner Wilson is an environmental attorney. She began serving in the commissioner seat in 2020.

"I refused to sit back and allow the destruction of our conservation lands, the exploitation of our natural resources, and special interest take over of local government," she said on her re-election website.

Arthur has been the owner of Gymnastics USA in Winter Garden for the last nine years. According to his campaign site, Arthur threw his hat in the District 1 ring after having "realized Orange County, Florida was suffering a crisis of leadership."

School Board member Amy Penncok defeated incumbent Chris Anderson for Supervisor of Elections in Seminole County for the Republican Primary.

On Monday, a Seminole County judge lifted the injunction against Chris Anderson over accusations that Anderson was violating Florida campaign laws.

Anderson was Supervisor of Elections for five years after Governor Ron DeSantis appointed him in the position in 2019. He later won the position in 2020.

Once the results were in, Anderson said he was relieved to rest after the results. But, he said his injunction may have impacted his voter turnout.

“A lot of these folks probably may have wanted to change their mind, but they had already voted earlier,” Anderson said. “They voted, already voted by mail. These were planned attacks by people that have ethical issues and, quite frankly, other issues that to deal with now to get to where they got to, and they're going to have to deal with that.”

In terms of voter turnout for the primary election today, Anderson said the numbers were extremely low and only 18% of registered voters cast a ballot during the primary.

“That's historically low, typically in Seminole County for a primary, especially in a presidential year, we're talking about 25% of a turnout,” Anderson said. “That's really low 60,000 people voted in the 2024 primary. 80,000 people voted in the primary of 2020.”

Anderson said this injunction and the accusations against him are from a specific group of Republicans and they should be held accountable for their behavior.

“They tried to say that I broke election laws,” Anderson said. “We find out, Chris didn't break any, I didn't break any election laws. As a matter of fact, I upheld them, and I was able to stand up in court and testify correctly, and the judge made the correct ruling.”

Anderson said regardless of the loss, he is thankful to the office and staff for their hard work and dedication, as well as all of the voters.

In the general election, Pennock will face Democratic candidate Deborah Poulalion.

Incumbents won the day in their primary elections Tuesday.

In District 3 -- which stretches through 12 counties, including part of Marion County -- U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack won the GOP primary with 87.13% of the vote. She'll face Democrat Tom Wells in December.

In District 6 — across six counties including Marion, Lake and Volusia —Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz easily defeated challenger John Grow. Waltz received 82.04% of the primary vote. He'll face Democrat James David Stockton III in November.

In District 7, in south Volusia and Seminole counties — freshman Congressman Cory Mills won the Republican primary with 80.88% percent of the vote, defeating Mike Johnson. He'll face Jennifer Adams, who won the Democratic primary with 62.67% of the vote against two opponents.

In District 9 — in south Orange and Osceola counties and small part of Polk — Democratic U.S. Rep. Darren Soto was unopposed in the primary. He'll face independent candidate Marcus Carter and Republican Thomas Chalifoux, who won the GOP primary against two opponents with 49.63%.

In District 10 — in central Orange County — freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost easily won his primary with 81.78% against two challengers. He'll face Republican Willie J. Montague in November.

In District 11 — which includes Sumter and parts of Lake, Orange and Polk counties — Republican U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster won his primary with 77% of the vote against John McCloy. Webster will face Democrat Barbie Harden Hall in November.

Republican Tim Bobanic will keep his seat as Brevard’s Supervisor of Elections.

Bobanic won 59.62% of the vote Tuesday evening, according to the unofficial election results. Bobanic beat out John Tobia, the Republican Brevard commissioner of District 3. The commissioner received 40.38% of the vote.

Tobia was previously under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. According to a report by Florida Today, the FDLE found evidence that Tobia used county staff to help with his Valencia College classwork as well as surreptitiously obtain information on his opponent, Bobanic, while he was staying in a Washington hotel.

In November, Gov. Ron DeSantis released documents that showed Tobia was under investigation and faced allegations of criminal use of personal identification information and improper voter registration.

However, a state prosecutor opted out of filing charges.

In Central Florida school board races, one candidate backed by Governor Ron DeSantis has won, and two candidates now head to runoff elections.

Brevard school board district 3 seat was won by DeSantis-endorsed John Thomas, a Melbourne city council member and former school administrator, who won the race with 56% of the votes over challenger Amber Yantz.

But two other candidates endorsed by the Governor are now heading to a runoff, with neither candidate capturing a majority of votes. Brevard school board member district 4 front-runner Matt Susin, the incumbent, now heads to a runoff with Avanese “Ava” Taylor. Susin received 44% of votes Tuesday.

In Volusia county, DeSantis-backed Donna Brosemer received 43% of the vote for school board member district 4 and will face runner-up Carl G. Persis in November.

Craig Curry and Matt McClain, both Republicans, reclaimed their seats on the Marion County Commission Tuesday.

Curry, the incumbent in District 1, received 60.35% of the vote in an open GOP primary. His opponent, Sarah Almeida Dennis, got 39.65%.

McClain, the son State Representative and former Commissioner Stan McClain, was appointed by the governor last September to a vacant commission seat.

He received 75.88% of the vote in a closed primary against David Blackwell.

School Board

Incumbent School Board member Allison Campbell won reelection in District 1. She received 52.71% of the vote, defeating former School Board member Beth McCall.

>> Find more Marion County results on the county elections page.

Republican Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays easily retained his seat in a closed primary.

Tom Vail, a vice president of the local Republic Party, is part of a group that questions the integrity of election systems.

Hays received 67.35% of the vote.

Visit the county page for other Lake County results.

Jeff Brower is keeping his Volusia County chair.

The incumbent retained 42.13% of the vote Tuesday evening, according to Volusia County election results.

Brower's closest challenger, Deborah “Deb” Denys, received 17.34% of the votes cast.

According to Volusia, Brower has lived in the county most of his life, starting at 3 years old when his family moved to Daytona Beach from Pennsylvania. Brower began a four-year term in January 2021.

Logan Brown, a teacher at The Villages Charter High School, has won the race for superintendent of schools in Sumter County.

He defeated Richard A. Shirley Jr., the son of the current superintendent.

Brown received just over 50.45% of the vote. Shirley, an experience school administrator, received 39.88%, according to unofficial results.

Both men are Republicans.

Democrat Geraldine Thompson is set to continue as District 15 representative in the Florida Senate after defeating fellow Democrat Randolph Bracy. District 15 covers West Orange County.

"Life's all about challenges, and I'm alive. It's all for my constituents," Thompson said following her victory. "We had Democrats voting, Republicans voting, NPAs voting. Overwhelmingly, I was the choice."

Thompson won with 60.72% of the vote, while Bracy received 39.28%.

Luis-Alfredo Garcia

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Central Florida Public Media

Thompson will not need to compete in the November primary as she faces no Republican opposition.

Democrat Geraldine Thompson is set to continue as District 15 representative in the Florida Senate after defeating fellow Democrat Randolph Bracy. Thompson will not need to compete in the November primary as she faces no Republican opposition.

State Rep. Bruce Antone, D-Orlando, has won re-election in District 41, defeating challenger Jane't Buford Johnson.

Antone received 63% of the vote in the west Orange County district. Without other opposition, the race was decided in the Democratic Primary.

Antone returned to the Florida House in 2022 after serving there in 2002-2006 and 2012-2020.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott has handily won Florida's Republican primary against two other opponents, moving on to face Democratic former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in November.

Mucarsel-Powell also won her election comfortably against three other candidates. This November, Scott has to first win a second term in the U.S. Senate before reaching his larger goal — winning Senate leadership, after retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell steps down.

Scott acknowledged his win by posting on the social platform X, “Thank you, Florida! Looking forward to a BIG win in November.”

Mucarsel-Powell — who ran a campaign for the past year focused on abortion rights, gun safety and Latin American policy — said in a statement that she’s grateful for her primary victory.

“This victory isn’t just mine — it belongs to so many people who have stepped up to say that we deserve better here in Florida,” Mucarsel-Powell said.

In the statement, the former Miami congresswoman said that the campaign since day one has focused on “protecting our freedoms,” whether that involves abortion rights, affordability, education or gun safety.

“Let me be clear — I am running to represent every single Floridian in this state," Mucarsel-Powell said. “This goes beyond Republicans vs. Democrats — we’re all done with extremists who don’t have our backs, we all deserve better than Rick Scott, and in November, we will win.”

She will also be pinned on Vice President Kamala Harris inspiring Democrats to the polls as she faces former President Donald Trump.

Mucarsel-Powell was the first Ecuadorian American and South American-born congressional member elected when she won in 2018, but she lost her reelection bid in 2020 to U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez.

The Senate seat was not the only one in Florida to watch, since some of the state’s congressional races included the most well-known far-right lawmakers.

One such example was U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who defeated an opponent backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to win the Republican primary in one of Florida’s most conservative congressional districts.

Gaetz defeated former Navy pilot Aaron Dimmock, who was backed by a McCarthy-controlled political committee. Gaetz is considered a lock to beat Democrat Gay Valimont in a district that tends to support Republicans by more than a 2-1 ratio.

Gaetz led the effort to oust McCarthy last year, and McCarthy in turn used his political action committee to spend $3 million against Gaetz. The committee aired commercials alleging that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old, an allegation currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. Gaetz maintains his innocence.

Barring an upset, Gaetz is set to win his fifth term in Congress, where he’s built a national reputation as a disruptor and a staunch ally of Trump.

U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds and Mike Waltz are also widely known conservative legislators. Donalds didn’t have any primary challengers, and Waltz defeated John Grow, a software engineer. Waltz has spoken at Trump's campaign events, made Fox News appearances and appeared at the Republican National Convention last month.

U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, who is also closely aligned with Trump and has staunchly defended Gaetz in the past, defended his seat against former Florida Senate candidate and veteran Mike Johnson.

Each of these congressional members are far-right conservatives in Congress, known mostly for their alignment with Trump. They’ve led charges to defend the former president, stalled appropriations bills and budget deals, upended former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and fought for stricter regulations on abortion access and immigration.

Florida voters are deciding contested primaries in most of Florida's 28 House districts.

Among the higher-profile House races was in District 13, in Pinellas County along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Whitney Fox, a former marketing and communications director at the county transit authority, easily bested four Democratic opponents to take on GOP freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, who faced no primary opposition.

The district leans Republican, but Fox expressed optimism she could prevail in November.

“Our shared hopes for affordable housing, reproductive freedom, and an economy that works for everyone unite us far more than any differences divide us,” Fox said in an email. “This campaign is about putting power back in the hands of working families. It’s about ensuring that whether you’re a teacher, a small business owner, or a retiree, your voice matters.”

Ricky Booth will serve as the District 5 commissioner of Osceola County for another term.

Booth, the incumbent, beat Republican challenger Dianna Liebnitzky, according to Osceola County election results.

The Osceola County native was first elected for the commissioner seat to serve a 2020 term. Prior to serving as commissioner, Booth served on the Osceola County School Board when he was first elected in 2014.

Booth beat out Liebnitzky with nearly 7,000 votes. Liebnitzky cleared just over 4,500.

The General Election matchup for U.S. Congress in Florida District 8, is set. The winner will replace retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey.

Mike Haridopolos, former Florida Senate President, has easily won the Republican primary.

He received 72% of the GOP vote in the district, which stretches through Brevard, Indian River and a small part of Orange County. Running against him were Joe Babits and John Hearton.

In the Democratic primary, Sandy Kennedy defeated Daniel McDow. She received 61% of the vote.

After a brief outage, Supervisor of Election websites across the state are back online.

Just after the polls closed at 7 p.m., many county election websites were unavailable due to website host responsible for those pages going down.

A staff member with the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections office said that the host crashed due to high volumes of traffic.

Supervisor of election websites are down in many areas across Florida Tuesday evening.

In Central Florida, Brevard, Osceola, Lake, and Sumter counties were experiencing outages.

A staff member at the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections office said the website host for many offices in the state is down due to the amount of traffic overloading the servers.

The host site is working to remedy the problem. In the meantime, race results are being posted to social media.