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Marco Rubio, Debbie Wasserman Schultz get Florida primary victories

By Eric DuVall and Shawn Price
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio talks to the media in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting in June. Rubio is widely expected to prevail in the Florida Senate primary on Tuesday. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio talks to the media in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting in June. Rubio is widely expected to prevail in the Florida Senate primary on Tuesday. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI. | License Photo

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio easily won his Republican primary Tuesday over multi-millionaire Carlos Beruff, after a failed presidential bid and deciding to un-retire from the U.S. Senate.

Rubio beat Beruff, who spent $8 million of his own money on the race, and Rubio will now defend his Senate seat against Democratic congressman Patrick Murphy in a key race for control of the U.S. Senate.

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Rubio changed his mind about retiring from the Senate after his failed presidential bid and after pressure from GOP insiders worried about losing Republican control of Senate in November.

The not-well-known, but well-supported Murphy beat liberal congressman Alan Grayson.

Rubio and Murphy have already begun to train their fire on one another for the general election.

Also in Florida, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, defeated a liberal challenge from attorney Tim Canova, who received an endorsement and a large financial boost from former presidential candidate and Wasserman Schultz-foe Sen. Bernie Sanders.

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Sanders and Wasserman Schultz clashed bitterly during the Democratic presidential primary, with Sanders accusing the DNC of favoring Hillary Clinton. When hacked DNC emails emerged showing precisely that, Wasserman Schultz chose to resign.

Since before bowing out of the presidential primary, Sanders has used his substantial online fundraising prowess to benefit Canova, a first-time candidate, raising hundreds of thousands for his long shot campaign.

In the other Florida U.S. House of Representatives primary races:

In District 1, Matt Gaetz won the Republican vote.

In District 2, Neil Dunn won the Republican vote and Walter Dartland won the Democratic vote.

In District 4, John Rutherford won the Republican vote.

In District 5, Al Lawson won the Democratic vote.

In District 6, Ron Desantis won the Republican vote and William McCullough won the Democratic vote.

In District 7, John Mica won the Republican vote.

In District 9, Wayne Liebnitzky won the Republican vote and Darren Soto won the Democratic vote

In District 10, Val Demings won the Democratic vote.

In District 11, Daniel Webster won the Republican vote.

In District 13, David W. Jolly won the Republican vote.

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In District 16, Vern Buchanan won the Republican vote and Jan Schneider won the Democratic vote.

In District 18, Brian Mast won the Republican vote and Randy Perkins won the Democratic vote.

In District 19, Francis Rooney won the Republican vote.

In District 23, Joseph Kaufman won the Republican vote and Debbie Wasserman Shultz won the Democratic vote.

In District 24, Frederica Wilson won the Democratic vote.

In District 26, Joe Garcia won the Democratic vote.

In District 27, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen won the Republican vote and Scott Fuhrman won the Democratic vote.

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