Florida voters cast primary ballots tomorrow in an election that will set the field for a wide-open governor’s race and several closely watched congressional contests, marking the first statewide vote since term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed he would step aside after two terms in office.
Polls across the state will be open from 7 am to 7 pm on Tuesday, 18 August, with early voting having run through 16 August in most counties. Florida remains a closed primary state, meaning a voter’s registered party affiliation determines which partisan contests appear on their ballot.
Florida Primary Election 2026: Why Is The Governor’s Race Wide Open This Year?
Incumbent governor Ron DeSantis is ineligible to seek re-election to a third consecutive term, opening the state’s top office to a competitive field for the first time in eight years. Republicans have carried every Florida gubernatorial election since 1998, and CBS Miami’s coverage of the race described the Republican primary as a test of “whether Florida continues the Trump-aligned direction” represented by one wing of the party or instead selects a candidate more closely tied to DeSantis and the state legislature.
On the Democratic side, the primary is being framed as a measure of the party’s ability to rebuild after years of Republican dominance in statewide races. CBS Miami reported that the contest will test whether the party’s leading Democratic candidate “can build a coalition of Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans,” noting that Florida has not elected a Democratic governor since Lawton Chiles won re-election in 1994.
Florida Primary Election 2026: What Statewide Races Are On The Ballot?
Florida’s US Senate primary will help determine who completes the term previously held by Marco Rubio, who departed the chamber earlier in the administration. The state’s attorney general race is also drawing scrutiny after DeSantis appointed Ashley Moody, formerly the sitting attorney general, to fill a separate vacancy, meaning Moody must now win tomorrow’s contest to remain in her post beyond the current term, according to CBS Miami’s reporting.
Several congressional races across South Florida carry outsized significance despite drawing no competitive primary. Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, the longest-serving current member of Florida’s congressional delegation, is unopposed for his party’s nomination, as is his Democratic opponent in the district. Elsewhere, incumbent congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar faces a primary challenge in a Miami-Dade seat that stretches across Coral Gables, Kendall and Key Biscayne.
Florida Primary Election 2026: What Will Voters Decide Beyond The Candidate Races?
Florida’s ballot also includes a range of local measures, among them a proposal to extend municipal term limits from two consecutive four-year terms to three, and several city charter amendments affecting candidate eligibility requirements.
Voters who requested a mail ballot ahead of the 6 August deadline may still return it by mail or drop it at a local supervisor of elections office, though mail ballots will not be accepted at polling places, and any ballot returned by post must reach election officials by 7 pm tomorrow to be counted. Whoever wins Tuesday’s primaries in the governor’s and Senate races will carry their party’s banner into a November general election that is expected to draw national attention, given the scale of the issues at stake, including property insurance costs, immigration enforcement and the state’s rapid population growth, according to CBS Miami’s assessment of the race.
