Digital Executive Producer: Mahmoud Bennett || WINK News Digital Team
•8/18/2026
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (WINK) — Florida voters are heading to the polls Tuesday for the state's 2026 primary election, with races for governor, U.S. Senate and Congress among the contests that will help shape the November midterm elections.
WINK News will follow the results throughout election night, with updates on key Southwest Florida races and live results available on our live Elections Results page.
Polls close at 7 p.m. ET in most of Florida. Counties in the Central Time Zone will close their polls at 8 p.m. ET. Florida is a closed primary state, meaning only voters registered with a political party can vote for candidates in that party's primary.
There were about 13.5 million registered voters in Florida as of July 20, according to the Associated Press. About 5.6 million were Republicans, 4.1 million were Democrats and 3.3 million were registered with no party affiliation.
The 2026 primary is also the first congressional election held under Florida's new congressional map, which was signed into law in May. The new boundaries changed several districts across the state and reshaped a number of congressional contests.
Florida voters are choosing party nominees for governor to succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is prohibited by term limits from seeking another term.
The Republican primary includes 11 candidates, including Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, former investment firm CEO James Fishback and former state House Speaker Paul Renner.
Six Democrats are seeking their party's nomination, including former Republican U.S. Rep. David Jolly, state Rep. Dotie Joseph and former teacher Dayna Marie Foster.
The winner of each party's primary will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
Florida also is holding a special election for the U.S. Senate seat that became vacant when Marco Rubio left the Senate to become U.S. secretary of state.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to the seat in 2025. Moody is seeking to win the remainder of Rubio's term.
Four Republicans are on the primary ballot: Moody, Chris Gleason, Neelam Taneja Perry and Ernest "Ernie" Rivera.
Two Democrats are seeking their party's nomination: state Rep. Angie Nixon and retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman.
The Republican and Democratic nominees will meet in the Nov. 3 special general election. The winner will serve the remaining two years of Rubio's unexpired term.
Several congressional races are particularly relevant to Southwest Florida voters because of the new congressional map.
District 19: U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is leaving his seat to run for governor, creating an open race in a district that includes parts of Lee and Collier counties.
The Republican primary includes Greg "Tex" Bukowski, Madison Cawthorn, Chris Collins, Ola Hawatmeh, Catalina Lauf, Jim Oberweis, Mike Pedersen, Linda Sawyer, Jim Schwartzel and John Strand.
Three Democrats — Victor Arias, Robert Neeld and Howard Sapp — are competing for their party's nomination.
The district includes parts of Lee and Collier counties.
District 22: The newly drawn 22nd District stretches from Southwest Florida to South Florida, including parts of Collier and Hendry counties, as well as portions of Palm Beach and Broward counties.
Seven Republicans are competing in the primary: Casey Askar, David Burck, Michael Carbonara, Richard Evans, Terri Hasdorff, Belinda Keiser and Michael Thompson.
Democrats Pia Dandiya and Kaysia Earley are competing for their party's nomination.
District 17: The newly redrawn district includes parts of Charlotte, Lee and Sarasota counties, stretching from the Sarasota area into Southwest Florida.
Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube is seeking reelection unopposed. Democrats Matthew Montavon and Allen Spence are competing for their party's nomination.
District 16: The new District 16 includes parts of Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Hardee and Polk counties.
Republicans Sydney Gruters, Edward Pope and Eddie Speir are competing for the nomination to replace retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. The Democratic primary includes Jonathan Harris, Kelly Kirschner, Tamika Lyles, Glenn Pearson and Jan Schneider.
The new map split Sarasota County between congressional Districts 16 and 17, moving about 48,000 voters who were previously in District 17 into District 16, according to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections.
District 9: The newly redrawn District 9 includes parts of Orange, Polk, Osceola, Indian River, Okeechobee, Highlands and Glades counties.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Darren Soto is seeking reelection. Republicans competing in the primary include Ben Butler, Marcus Carter, Thomas Chalifoux Jr., Dan Green, Jorge Martinez, Steve Rance and Justin Story.
Florida counties will begin reporting preliminary results after polls close. Counties generally release results from early voting and vote-by-mail ballots in their first updates of the night, followed by Election Day voting.
The Associated Press reported that in the 2024 Florida primary, its first results were available at 8 p.m. ET and its final update of the night came shortly before midnight, with about 99.9% of votes counted.
Results reported on election night are preliminary. County election officials continue the canvassing process before results are certified.
Florida requires a machine recount in races where the vote margin is 0.5% or less of the total votes cast. A manual recount of overvotes and undervotes is then required if the machine recount results in a vote margin of 0.25% or less of the total votes cast, the AP reports.
There are 77 days between Tuesday's primary and the Nov. 3 general election.
WINK News will continue updating the results and covering the races throughout the primary and general election night. Follow the live election results here.
Jim Schwartzel is the president of Sun Broadcasting, which owns local media outlets including 92.5 Fox News, the CW and Fox Florida, which air WINK News. Schwartzel has no involvement in WINK News editorial decisions.
