- Nan Rich performed about as poorly as a competitive candidate with longstanding experience could have in the largest urban counties. Rich performed as poorly as primary fringe candidates did against Lawton Chiles in 1994 and Alex Sink in 2010. Explaining how this could happen to such a seasoned officeholder will take more space than we have here.
- The Attorney General primary was a runaway. Due to our Editor-In-Chief Kartik Krishnaiyer accepting the job as Deputy Campaign Manager last month with George Sheldon’s Campaign we opted to not discuss the race on this site. Tonight Pam Bondi already called for a debate with Sheldon. With the primary over, we have opted to allow our other writers to cover the race, but Krishnaiyer will still be prohibited from discussing it here.
- Geraldine Thompson’s crushing victory over Gary Siplin should finally end the fears of progressives that Siplin will return to the Senate.
- We are very happy that Earned Sick Time passed overwhelmingly in Orange County. This initiative proved how well progressives if organized can do on the ground if they run an organized campaign over two years which involves a coalition of different groups. Congratulations to our friend Stephanie Porta, all of her coalition partners and the progressive leadership in Orange County for making this happen.
- Rep. Ricardo Rangel’s defeat in the HD-43 Democratic Primary to John Cortes owed itself largely to local factors. But sometimes Tallahassee pols forget local issues matter especially in districts like HD-43 where turnout is typically so low in primary elections.
- Sean Shaw’s defeat in the HD-61 Democratic Primary to Ed Narain is a victory for business groups, Disney and Insurance Companies. It is a defeat for the Trial Lawyers. We have already seen some spin about how this hurts Charlie Crist who stumped for Shaw, the more progressive of the two major candidates. Quite honestly, that is a stretch.
- Steve Sarnoff’s win in the HD-67 Democratic Primary means that Chris Latvala while still favored will not simply walk into the House. HD-67 was a 52% Obama district in 2012 and should perform equally well if not better for Crist since it is in his home county of Pinellas.
- The growing influence of Senator Jeff Clemens in Palm Beach County politics is unmistakable if you look at recent local election results and tonight’s School Board and County Commission races. Senator Clemens has created an independent power base in a county that has long been characterized by clear factions and party infighting.
- The performance of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office must once again be scrutinized. Again tonight, Broward had computer glitches and reported results late. Today in a low turnout primary it was especially noticeable.
We will have much more analysis on the Primary from our writers in the next few several days.
The Florida Squeeze 
It is frightening to learn about the shortage of cyberspace when I was so looking forward to your explanation of Nan’s poor performance.
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No offense towards all those so-called progressives who put time and energy and effort into supporting Nan rich but she’s about as bad a candidate as you could get. Statistically it would be almost impossible to do worse than she did.
Now it is important for those progressives to take that energy and get behind Charlie Crist and the Democratic ticket.
I think it is also very instructive to look at to statewide candidates from Broward County being smashed. Perry Thurston did better than Nan Rich simply because he was African-American and could count on some black votes. He won Broward and did very well and some other counties. But in some counties Sheldon’s margin was similar to Crist.
Dan Gelber won a primary last time simply because he was running against Aronberg another South Florida candidate. But I think it is proven that South Florida is not like the rest of the state and you cannot nominate candidates from South Florida. They cannot get elected state wide.
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Marco Rubio? He is from South Florida. Jeb Bush? He is from South Florida.
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South Florida Republicans seem to carry more weight than South Florida Democrats. Not universally true but I’m thinking Tampa/Orlando will produce our next big hitters.
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You guys did a good job this election cycle but have to say you really stuck your next out for Sean Shaw in a way you shouldn’t have.
He was a deeply flawed candidate. I know he’s connected in democratic circles so probably knows Kartik and he decided to make the endorsement and push this narrative of the other guy being a Republican plant. But that was a mistake for you guys.
I have to admit your articles about the opponent and the money he was taking is worrying but he was always going to win the race.
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Congrats Kartik on the Sheldon win.
The margin was a shocker. So you guys did a good job.
I really like Perry Thurston. He needs to run for State Senate now and lead again.
Rangel’s loss was difficult to accept. Did anyone see the muslim money Cortes got? And his loan to his campaign ehen he makes 20k a year. Suspicious.
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First, I am registered in Polk County, and voted early last Monday. My vote was on behalf of Nan Rich because my trust for her was more than that of Charlie Crist. But he will get my vote in November, as I simply cannot support another four years of Rick Scott.
Locally, our situation looks to be as much of a red state as ever. The entire BOCC is in the GOP’s hand, and the only countywide Democratic/progressive officeholder is Lori Edwards, our Supervisor of Elections, who was previously a member of the state House. And although the three members of the School Board are all incumbents, only one – the only African-American – lost her reelection bid. And so it goes here in “Imperial Polk County”.
Now onward and upward in November
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Nan ran the #worstcampaignever
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It’s liberal democrats especially Jews and blacks like Meek, Rich, Thurston and Gelber that are a problem. It is sad reflection on the racism of the state but something democrats MUST understand going forward. If you are black or Jewish and from South Florida you will not get elected in the state. It is sad and very unfortunate. But it is reality folks.
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That’s a bit over the top
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Tell that to Dick Stone and Bob Shevin … and they both won statewide back in the 70s!
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