Keller survives tough challenge in Florida primary

Four-term Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.) escaped a closer-than-expected primary Tuesday night as a spate of other races across Florida set up some marquee November showdowns. 

Keller survived a challenge from radio talk show host Todd Long in Florida’s 8th district. Keller emerged from the primary with a 53-47 win over Long.

{mosads}Long had made an issue of Keller violating a pledge to only serve four terms, the same issue Keller used to unseat incumbent Rep. Bill Sublette in a 2000 primary challenge. Though Keller maintained a substantial lead over Long in fundraising, Long posted respectable numbers through the beginning of August.

Keller, in a district that leans Republican, will face Democrat Alan Grayson, who beat out major candidates Mike Smith and Charlie Stuart. Grayson received 48 percent of votes cast, with Stuart at 28 percent and Smith at 17 percent.

In another close race, Republican Tom Rooney, the son of the president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, struggled to put away his opponents before eventually prevailing in a closely contested primary in the 16th district. With all precincts reporting, the Associated Press reported that Rooney led state Rep. Gayle Harrell by a slim 952-vote margin, giving Rooney 37 percent to Harrell’s 35 percent. Palm Beach Springs City Councilman Hal Valeche drew 27 percent of the vote.

Rooney had scored the critical endorsement of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist earlier in August, a potentially game-changing development that led to his eventual victory.

Elsewhere in Florida, former state Rep. Suzanne Kosmas walked away with the Democratic primary in the 24th district, setting up a competitive battle against three-term Rep. Tom Feeney (R) this fall. Kosmas won 72 percent of the vote over challenger Curtis Clint with 79 percent of precincts reporting.

Feeney has raised $1.2 million to date, to Kosmas’s $1.2 million. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is betting on Kosmas, putting the 15th district on its “Red to Blue” program.

In the 9th district, lawyer and former Federal Trade Commission official Bill Mitchell appeared to have won the three-way primary with 38 percent of voters’ support and 91 percent of precincts reporting. Mitchell pulled off a small upset over the DCCC-backed Plant City Mayor John Dicks and League of United Latin American Citizens Florida director Anita de Palma, who won 33 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

Mitchell will face freshman Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who is favored to win, having already spent more than half a million dollars on the race while still having $640,000 in cash on hand through the first week of August. The DCCC has placed the 9th district on its “Emerging Races” list, though it listed Dicks as the party-backed candidate.

In the 15th district, state Sen. Bill Posey won the three-way Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. Dave Weldon (R), who is leaving Congress to resume his physician’s practice.

Posey won the Republican primary, with 82 percent of precincts reporting, besting candidates Alan Bergman, who won 14 percent, and Kevin Lehoullier at 9 percent.

He will face long-shot Democrat Stephen Blythe, who won the two-way Democratic primary against Air Force Lt. Col. Paul Rancatore. With 82 percent of precincts reporting, Blythe won 65 percent of the vote, beating Rancatore, who won 35 percent.