TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The race is on for who fills Florida’s US Senate seat. The battle between Republican incumbent Marco Rubio and Democratic challenger and US Congresswoman Val Demings comes to an end tonight.
Once the polling places officially close at 7 pm, the results will start appearing in the live tracker below.
Rubio, a Republican senator who has represented Florida in the US Senate since 2011, once served as City Commissioner in West Miami before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives and later to the US Senate. Rubio became Speaker of the Florida House in 2006.
Demings, a Democratic US Congresswoman, is fighting Rubio for her Senate seat. Before being elected to the US House in 2016, Demings served as an officer in the Orlando Police Department, eventually rising in rank to become Orlando’s first female police chief in 2007. He later served as the representative of the 10th US Congressional District of Florida. , ,
As of Monday, nearly 2.3 million Floridians voted at early polling places and more than 2.6 million ballots were cast by mail,According to the Florida Division of Elections, There were also about 1.7 million vote-by-mail ballots that had not yet been returned.
why this race matters
Control of the US Senate is currently in the hands of Democrats, thanks to a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris. The race between Rubio and Demings could help decide which party is in charge, in addition to other major Senate contests across America.
The Florida race has attracted the attention of key players in national politics, with President Biden and former President Trump rallied for their party’s nominee on election day.
While Florida’s Senate race isn’t the only opportunity to change the balance of power in Congress, most polls are predicting a rubio win, If Demings takes the seat, it means Democrats are one step closer to taking control of their majority in the upper house.
This is a developing story. Stay up to date on the latest Election Day coverage with News Channel 8’s free on-air and on-the-goWFLA News Channel 8 Mobile App,
