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Voters in Arizona, Florida, and Oklahoma hit the polls for last major primary day in 2018

Officials expect record turnout in at least one state while voters in another took to the polls with a recent attack fresh on their minds

Clark Mindock
New York
Monday 15 October 2018 15:11 BST
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Republicans and Democrats chose their party nominees in key races
Republicans and Democrats chose their party nominees in key races

Voters have taken to the polls in Arizona, Florida, and Oklahoma to vote in the last big primary day of 2018.

The chosen candidates could have a dramatic impact on who controls the government in Washington after the upcoming midterm elections.

In Arizona, an expected surge in Democratic enthusiasm and participation contributed to a turnout that officials expected to shatter the existing primary voting record in the state. In Florida, voters went to the polls with yet another mass shooting fresh on the minds of the state, which has been the site of several high profile attacks. Meanwhile, Oklahoma Republicans were tasked with determining which gubernatorial candidate they favoured.

Early on Tuesday, officials in Arizona – the home of the late Senator John McCain, who died over the weekend – confirmed that some polling sites in Phoenix had opened late because voting machines had not been set up properly. Those problems had dredged up memories of the elections in the state in 2016, where long lines infuriated voters.

Those voters were heading to the polls to decide between candidates on both the Democratic and Republican tickets, with the most notable seat to be filled being the Senate seat to be vacated by Senator Jeff Flake – who announced he would step down in protest against Mr Trump, and the America he had come to represent.

Of those running in the state’s Republican primary for that seat, Representative Martha McSally was considered the frontrunner heading into Tuesday’s voting, followed by two candidates – former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state Senator Kelli Ward – who themselves had aligned closer to Mr Trump’s politics than Ms McSally had, but appeared to fail to gain much traction among voters in the state.

On the Democratic side, Representative Kyrsten Sinema was considered to be the formidable choice for the nomination after a primary season that had allowed her to target independent voters while Republicans engaged in a bitter and damaging battle to be her November opponent. Early polling suggests Ms Sinema would be the favoured candidate in any potential match-up between the three Republicans.

Voters in Florida made it to the polls just days after a mass shooting in Jacksonville.

The citizens in that state were asked to pick nominees on both sides of the aisle to replace outgoing Governor Rick Scott, who himself is running a Senate campaign against Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.

The Democratic race in that state had become a wildly expensive affair, with more than $100m in spending between several candidates including former Representative Gwen Graham, former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine, and the mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew Gillum – who is backed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and would be the first black governor of the state if elected.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, a more timid race had been conducted between Representative Ron DeSantis and state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam.

Just Republicans headed to the polls in Oklahoma, where GOP Governor Mary Fallin is retiring, and leaving an open seat. That race featured a face-off between former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett and businessman Kevin Sitt to be that party’s nominee and take on the Democrat in the race, former Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson.

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