Central Florida’s Congressional representation looks to remain the same, with Democratic incumbents Val Demings, Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy all defeating their primary opponents. The congressional trio has been very active in Washington D.C. and voters agreed they deserve to continue on Capitol Hill. The incumbent Democrats all won decisively in their primary elections.
Rep. Val Demings was also busy celebrating her husband, Jerry Demings, becoming Orange County’s next mayor! It was a big election night for the Demings household.
The most heated Democratic primary was Rep. Darren Soto against former Congressman Alan Grayson. In fact, even after the results, Grayson did not let up in his live reaction on Spectrum News.
“I feel like the people of Central Florida have been robbed,” Grayson told Bailey Myers of Spectrum News.
Grayson also blamed Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch’s smear campaign against him, who spent $502,000 in the 30 days to attack Grayson personally. “Frankly, it worked. That’s a very unfortunate result. It’s a threat to democracy itself,” Grayson said of the attacks to Myers. He said Fox News already picks the Republican nominees, but now they want to pick the Democratic nominees too.
When asked if he supports Darren Soto now that the primary election is over, Grayson remained focused on Soto’s record, saying things like “Darren Soto voted twice to prosecute abortion as murder. The voters deserve to know that Darren Soto got an A rating from the NRA and was endorsed by the NRA.” Grayson also said Soto and Fox News attacked him personally and not on the issues, saying he was “disappointed” in the results.
Soto, on the other hand, is obviously very pleased with the results.”I’m deeply honored by tonight’s results,” Soto told Spectrum News. Soto said the Hispanic vote rallied and helped push him over the edge in the election, but said he is ready to represent everyone in his district.
Soto and Demings now have a clear path to re-election, with Murphy being the top target in Central Florida for Republicans but in a leaning Democratic district.
