Scott, Gaetz and Salazar won easily in Florida's Republican primaries

The Florida Republican primary ended uneventfully for both parties. Among the Republicans, Rick Scott, Maria Elvira Salazar and Matt Gaetz won comfortably. At the same time, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will be the Senate candidate from the opposing side of the aisle, and Whitney Fox will try to unseat Anna Paulina Luna.

While comfortable victories were expected for Scott and Salazar, who spoke to VOZ in the past, there was some interest in Gaetz's primary in the 1st District, where Kevin McCarthy had endorsed Aaron Dimmock to unseat him.

Dimmock, a Navy veteran, received some interesting funding from groups close to the former House speaker, but it wasn't enough at the polls. With 99% of the votes counted, Gaetz received 72% to his rival's 27%.

"I want to make a STATEMENT. I want to get an ASTRONOMIC VICTORY to show Kevin McCarthy that no matter how much money he spends to defeat me, it will NEVER pay off," the congressman wrote in an email sent to his voters days before the primary.

Back to Rick Scott, he will face Mucarsel-Powell in his bid to renew his Senate seat. The Republican prevailed by a very narrow margin in 2018, a little more than 10,000 votes out of more than 8 million. Six years later, he leads comfortably in the polls against his Democratic opponent, a former congresswoman who, in 2019, became the first South American-born immigrant to serve in Congress.

However, she was defeated by Carlos Gimenez in the 2020 election and has since held no other public office.

Furthermore, Whitney Fox will try to defeat Anna Paulina Luna in the 13th district, while progressive Maxwell Frost survived without sweating his primary.

In the mayoral election in Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava won re-election with 58% of the vote, thus avoiding a runoff. Second place went to Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid (22%), while Alex Otaola, an influencer who speaks strictly Spanish, rounded out the podium with 12% of the vote.