Sen. Rick Scott wins Florida GOP primary as he seeks a second term

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rick Scott has handily won Florida's Republican primary against two other opponents, moving on to face Democratic former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in November.

Mucarsel-Powell also won her election comfortably against three other candidates. This November, Scott has to first win a second term in the U.S. Senate before reaching his larger goal — winning Senate leadership, after retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell steps down.

The Florida primary also reaffirmed support for firebrand U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and picked the nominees to replace retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey in an election where local and state races were the main draw for voters in some areas.

Meanwhile, the Florida secretary of state’s office reported that some counties were having technical difficulties reporting results. The office said it was receiving accurate information on votes from individual counties but that the counties were having difficulty reporting them on public-facing websites.

Some results were not immediately available on county websites, but the glitch didn’t affect vote totals, elections officials said.

After his win, Scott said in an emailed statement: “I am proof that the American dream is alive, and I intend to fight like hell to make sure it stays alive."

Mucarsel-Powell — who ran a campaign for the past year focused on abortion rights, gun safety and Latin American policy — said in a statement that she’s grateful for her primary victory.

“This victory isn’t just mine — it belongs to so many people who have stepped up to say that we deserve better here in Florida,” Mucarsel-Powell said.

In the statement, the former Miami congresswoman said that the campaign since day one has focused on “protecting our freedoms,” whether that involves abortion rights, affordability, education or gun safety.

“Let me be clear — I am running to represent every single Floridian in this state," Mucarsel-Powell said. “This goes beyond Republicans vs. Democrats — we’re all done with extremists who don’t have our backs, we all deserve better than Rick Scott, and in November, we will win.”

Her hopes could be pinned on Vice President Kamala Harris inspiring Democrats to the polls as she faces former President Donald Trump.

Mucarsel-Powell was the first Ecuadorian American and South American-born congressional member elected when she won in 2018, but she lost her reelection bid in 2020 to U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez.

All of Florida's 27 incumbent members of Congress easily got through the primary, many without opposition. But the race in Congressional District 1 was a test to see if Gaetz's penchant for disruption is supported by his constituents.

Despite former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy using a political committee to pump $3 million into the race to defeat Gaetz, he easily beat former Navy pilot Aaron Dimmock.

“Thank you FL-01. I will never stop fighting for you,” Gaetz posted on the social platform X.

Barring an upset, Gaetz is set to win his fifth term in Congress, where he’s built a national reputation as a disruptor and a staunch ally of Trump. He is considered a lock to beat Democrat Gay Valimont in a district that tends to support Republicans by more than a 2-1 ratio.

Gaetz led the effort to oust McCarthy last year, and McCarthy in turn used his political action committee to target Gaetz. The committee aired commercials alleging that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old, an allegation currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. Gaetz maintains his innocence.

In Congressional District 8, former Senate President Mike Haridopolos easily won the GOP primary to replace Posey. He is now considered to easy favorite to win in November in the conservative district along Florida's central Atlantic coast.

In District 13 in Pinellas County along Florida’s Gulf Coast, Whitney Fox, a former marketing and communications director at the county transit authority, easily bested four Democratic opponents. She'll now take on GOP freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, who faced no primary opposition.

The district leans Republican, but Fox expressed optimism she could prevail in November.

“Our shared hopes for affordable housing, reproductive freedom, and an economy that works for everyone unite us far more than any differences divide us,” Fox said in an email. “This campaign is about putting power back in the hands of working families. It’s about ensuring that whether you’re a teacher, a small business owner, or a retiree, your voice matters.”

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Dimmock's last name. It is Dimmock, not Dimmick.

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, center, speaks after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, center, speaks after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, center, speaks after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, center, speaks after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Whitney Fox, Democratic candidate for Florida's 13th congressional district, right, hugs a supporter during her primary night election watch party Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Dunedin, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Whitney Fox, Democratic candidate for Florida's 13th congressional district, left, hugs her husband Nick Fox during her primary night election watch party Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Dunedin, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Whitney Fox, Democratic candidate for Florida's 13th congressional district, right, talks to former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman during her primary night election watch party Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Dunedin, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Whitney Fox, Democratic candidate for Florida's 13th congressional district, speaks to supporters during her primary night election watch party Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Dunedin, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Poll workers wait for voters at a polling station inside the American Legion in South Miami, Fla., during voting in Florida's primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Voters cast their ballots in Florida's primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, at a polling place inside the Indian Creek Fire Station in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

A polling place is shown for Florida's primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, inside the Indian Creek Fire Station in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Voters fill in their ballots for Florida's primary election, at a polling station inside the American Legion in South Miami, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Poll worker Essie Palmer Yera, center, who as inspector is tasked with making sure voters receive the correct ballot for their precinct and party affiliation, hands a voter a ballot at a polling station inside the American Legion in South Miami, Fla., during voting in Florida's primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Poll worker Essie Palmer Yera, who as inspector is tasked with making sure voters receive the correct ballot, applauds along with other poll workers as a first-time voter checks in at a polling station inside the American Legion in South Miami, Fla., during voting in Florida's primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Stickers reading "I voted" rest beside a ballot scanner as a voter fills in a ballot at a privacy booth, during voting in Florida's primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in a voting bureau at the American Legion in South Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, is joined by Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, at a campaign event on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Pensacola, Fla. (AP Photo/Brendan Farrington)

FILE - Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, addresses the crowd before an appearance by President Joe Biden during his reproductive freedom campaign event at Hillsborough Community College, April 23, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

Matt Gaetz and Rick Scott face challengers in Florida primaries

Matt Gaetz and Rick Scott face challengers in Florida primaries

FILE - Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

GENEVA (AP) — Soccer great Zvonimir Boban says he does not want to be president of UEFA.

It needed “a real football man,” he suggested on Thursday, in a barb at technocrats who he claimed think they are bigger than the game.

The former Croatia and AC Milan player resigned as UEFA chief of football in January in protest at president Aleksander Čeferin moving to change legal statutes that would let him stay in office longer.

Čeferin later called Boban a clown and his allies suggested the dramatic exit was positioning to one day challenge for the presidency — a claim denied in an interview with Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport published on Thursday.

“I don’t have any interest. But a real football man in UEFA is really needed,” said Boban, who previously had a senior role at FIFA under its president Gianni Infantino. He left in 2019 to work for Milan.

“In that sense, I say it with bitterness, having fought for changes at UEFA, like FIFA before that, I was of no use for anything,” Boban said.

UEFA was approached for comment.

Čeferin and Infantino are both lawyers first elected in 2016 in fallout from turmoil at UEFA and FIFA during American and Swiss federal investigations of international soccer officials. Infantino was previously UEFA general secretary for more than six years.

“Unfortunately for years the soccer technocracy has been all the rage inside the system, depriving it of its values, which instead it should always represent and defend,” Boban told Gazzetta.

“These people think they’re more important than the game, than the players, than the coaches, than the fans and even the actual soccer institutions,” he said.

Boban joined UEFA in 2021 to be a senior advisor to Čeferin, who called his former advisor a clown in February at the UEFA Congress.

“I’m sorry about the way our relationship ended,” Boban said on Thursday, adding they had not spoken since.

Boban resigned in January citing his “total disapproval” of the legal move that would let Čeferin stay in office for 15 years through 2031.

UEFA has a 12-year term limit for its president among anti-corruption reforms passed in response to the criminal investigations that rocked international soccer bodies.

However, Čeferin steered through an amendment approved by UEFA member federations in February that would not count his first three years — technically completing the mandate of predecessor Michel Platini, who was removed from office — against his 12-year limit.

Within hours, Čeferin then pledged he will leave office in 2027 and not seek a final four-year mandate.

Some of UEFA's 55 member federations have since said they support their Slovenian leader staying on.

AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf in Rome contributed.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Cristiano Ronaldo, the all-time leading goalscorer in the Champions League, receives a special award from UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin in recognition of his achievements in the competition, during the Champions League, league phase, draw, in Monaco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Former Juventus and PSG Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon receives the 2024 UEFA President's Award from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin during the Champions League, league phase, draw, in Monaco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

FILE - Zvonimir Bobanin Kazan, Russia, on Nov. 26, 2016. Former UEFA official Zvonimir Boban, has been talking Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 about why he resigned in January in a dispute with its president Aleksander Ceferin. He says he does not want to be UEFA president. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)