TALLAHASSEE, Fla.–Two U.S. congress members from Florida won their reelection bids after recent setbacks.
Defeated Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio won his primary as he seeks a second term, while Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who recently had to step down from her position as chairwoman of the Democratic National Party after an email scandal, won her primary for a seventh term.
Rubio beat millionaire developer Carlos Beruff, the only major GOP candidate to stay in the race after Rubio decided to run for re-election two days before the deadline to make the ballot. He had said for months he wouldn’t run again no matter what happened in the presidential race.
Rubio will now face the winner of the Democratic primary, either U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy or U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
Meanwhile, Schultz won her Florida Democratic primary against law professor Tim Canova, a Bernie Sanders-backed challenger, with more than 57 percent of the vote.
It was the first time Wasserman Schultz had faced a primary opponent in her heavily Democratic suburban Fort Lauderdale district. Canova had raised about $3.3 million, an extraordinary amount for a primary challenger with no political experience. She raised $3 million but got backing from a political action committee.
Wasserman Schultz was dragged down by her recent forced resignation as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after leaked emails. Sanders supporters say they showed that Wasserman Schultz had given preferential treatment to Hillary Clinton in the primaries
