2022 Primary Election Scorecard and General Election Preview
By Sarah Hickman, FMA Vice President of Political Affairs | Updated Aug. 25, 2022

Florida’s Primary Election was held on Tuesday, and the results were overwhelmingly successful for Friends of Medicine. Out of 59 races that the FMA PAC was involved in, 87% of our endorsed candidates won. FMA PAC-endorsed candidates enjoyed a 90% success rate in Florida Senate races and 86% in races for the Florida House.

Primary highlights and what’s next
Karen Pittman, whose spouse is former FMA PAC President Chris Pittman, MD, won a hard-fought primary in House District 65 in the Tampa area, and she will face another tough opponent in the November General Election. FMA member Joel Rudman, MD, a family physician in Navarre who is running in House District 3, was also heavily supported by the FMA PAC and won on Tuesday. It will be helpful to have another physician in the Florida House of Representatives.

FMA ally Rep. Tracie Davis won a tough race for Senate District 5 in Jacksonville, an open seat. Medicine-friendly Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book won in Broward County. Three incumbent Democrat state representatives were defeated in the primary by challengers from their party. No Republican incumbent legislators lost their primary races.

In November’s General Election, Gov. Ron DeSantis will face former Gov. Charlie Crist, who defeated state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried in the Democratic gubernatorial primary race by 368,731 votes — or almost 25% — winning in all Florida counties except Alachua, Bay, and Walton. Though the FMA PAC doesn’t get involved in federal races, we do watch them closely. Democrat Val Demings easily defeated three opponents for the nomination to oppose U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in November. She is well funded and has mounted an aggressive TV campaign. While Sen. Rubio has had the advantage thus far, Demings is in a competitive position for November.

See the full list of FMA PAC-endorsed candidates in the Primary Election. You can also see the most recent state and federal campaign finance reports here.