Welcome to The Florida Squeeze’s Election Night Live Blog. We will be posting updates and commentary during the evening here.

Pinellas County tends to tabulate votes quickly. Orange also does a good job.  Broward and Palm Beach Counties tend to be as slow as molasses and often Broward is especially inefficient in tabulation. So expect results sooner from the Tampa Bay area and Central Florida then from two of the three Southeast Florida counties.

Projections in bold

Updates below:

7:10 PM Pinellas County absentees are in- Crist leads Rich 80-20 and Sheldon leads Thurston 73-27. It is the home area of both Crist and Sheldon so perhaps not too much stock should be put into these numbers. Over 43,000 Democratic absentees.

7:10 PM: Carl Domino is leading the CD-18 GOP primary by a wide margin.

7:15 PM: No home county advantage for Nan Rich as she has lost the Broward absentees and early voting 76-24. Perry Thurston however has won Broward’s early and absentee votes 51-49 in his home county. The Palm Beach absentee/early numbers are similar to Pinellas. Crist and Sheldon crushing Rich and Thurston respectively.

7:30 PM: Pat Kemp has raced well ahead of Mark Nash in the Hillsborough CC District 7 Dem Primary. The Florida Squeeze analyzing precinct data can project Pat Kemp as the winner tonight of the Dem Primary.

7:45 PM : TFS can call Senator Geraldine Thompson as the winner in a hotly contest Senate Primary against Gary Siplin and that Earned Sick Time has won.

8:00 PM: Not ready to call it yet by Steve Sarnoff looks poised to snag the D nomination in HD-67 which would put the seat in play for the General.

8:05 PM: TFS Declares Charlie Crist and George Sheldon Democratic nominees for Governor and Attorney General respectively. Both are winning by overwhelming margins statewide.

8:30 PM: Narain has won HD-61. Geller in HD-100 TFS can safely call both now. 

8:35 PM:  Steve Sarnoff has won the Dem nomination in HD-67. This is a big deal as the 52% Obama district now can be targeted by the Dems since flawed candidate Shawna Vercher has been defeated. 

9:45 PM Rep. Ricardo Rangel has been defeated for reelection by John Cortes.