Florida’s voters went to the polls last week in a primary that captured national attention when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum stunned political prognosticators by defeating the predicted winner Gwen Graham.
If he wins in November, Gillum would become Florida’s first black governor.
On the Republican side of the ledger, Congressman Ron DeSantis — endorsed by President Donald J. Trump — carried the day, defeating Adam Putnam, a longtime Florida politician, who had served as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and five terms in Congress, representing Central Florida.
Locally, 85,907 voters cast their ballots in Pasco County, representing a 24.84 percent turnout of the county’s 345,879 registered voters.
“The turnout was considerably higher than I expected and, in this case, I’m never more happy to be wrong,” Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said, via email.
The 2018 Primary turnout represented a 66 percent increase from the last midterm primary in 2014, Corley said.
“It’s apparent the voters are more engaged than in previous cycles,” the supervisor of elections added.
Hillsborough County experienced a slightly higher turnout, with 219,118 ballots cast, representing a 26.16 percent turnout of the county’s 837,681 registered voters.
DeSantis and Graham garnered the most votes in the governor’s race among Pasco voters, while DeSantis and Gillum were the top vote-getters in that race in Hillsborough County.
While many races on the ballot were true primary choices, with voters deciding which candidate should represent the Democrats and Republicans in the general elections, the races for judges and school board members were nonpartisan, meaning winners could be named if a candidate secured more than 50 percent of the vote.
That happened in two of the three Pasco County School Board races on the ballot.
Allen Altman and Cynthia Armstrong were both re-elected to another term, which the winner of the seat vacated by retiring Steve Luikart will be decided in the general election, with a run-off between Megan Harding and Tara M. O’ Connor.
The Pasco race for the Circuit Judge 6th Judicial Circuit, Group 4, also will require a run-off in November between Davis Ellis and Roxanne Fixsen. In that race, none of the three candidates secured more than 50 percent of the vote.
TOP VOTE-GETTERS IN KEY RACES
Pasco County Republicans
Federal
U.S. Senate: Rick Scott
State
Governor: Ron DeSantis
Attorney General: Ashley Moody
Commissioner of Agriculture: Baxter Troutman
State Representative District 37: Ardian Zika
Pasco County Democrats
Federal
U.S. Rep. District 12: Chris Hunter
State
Governor: Gwen Graham
Attorney General: Sean Shaw
Commissioner of Agriculture: Nicole ‘Nikki’ Fried
State Senator District 20: Kathy Lewis
Local races, No Party Affiliation
Pasco County
Circuit Judge 6th Judicial Circuit
Group 9: Christine Helinger
Group 36: Doneene D. Loar
Group 40: Thomas H. “Tommy” Minkoff
Group 45: Rebecca Hamilton
County Judge
Group 7: Kent Compton
Pasco School Board
District 1: Allen Altman
District 3: Cynthia Armstrong
District 5: A run-off will be held between Megan Harding and Tara M. O’Connor in the November general election.
Hillsborough County Republicans
State races
Governor: Rick DeSantis
Attorney General: Ashley Moody
Commissioner of Agriculture: Baxter Troutman
State Representative, District 64: James Grant
Local races, Republican
Hillsborough County Commission, District 2: Ken Hagan
Hillsborough County Commission, District 5: Victor Crist
Hillsborough County Commission, District 7: Todd Marks
Hillsborough County Democrats
Federal
U.S. Congress, District 12: Chris Hunter
State races
Governor: Andrew Gillum
Attorney General: Sean Shaw
Commissioner of Agriculture: Nicole ‘Nikki’ Fried
State Senator, District 20: Kathy Lewis
Local races, Democratic
Hillsborough County Commission, District 5: Mariella Smith
Hillsborough County Commission, District 7: Kimberly Overman
Hillsborough County School Board (No political affiliation)
District 1: William Henry Person and Steve Cona will have a run-off in the November general election
District 2: Stacy Hahn
District 4: Melissa Snively
District 6: Karen Perez and Henry “Shake” Washington will have a runoff in the November general election.
Complete results can be found at PascoVotes.com and VoteHillsborough.org.
Published September 5, 2018
