Florida presidential primary could be key in nominations

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida was the biggest prize among the five states holding presidential primaries Tuesday, where Donald Trump was counting on a win in Marco Rubio’s home state and Hillary Clinton was hoping the Sunshine State would again prove to be good to her family.

Both were leading in the polls heading into Election Day in a state that isn’t always easy to predict. Floridians had already cast more than 2 million votes in early and absentee voting. Florida’s 99 winner-take-all delegates in the Republican primary could go a long way to propelling Trump and ending Rubio’s campaign.

“We need to win it,” said Joe Gruters, who is Trump’s Florida co-chair as well as vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. “Regardless of knocking Rubio out of the race tonight … Florida’s the big prize.”

He said winning here will prove Trump can be competitive when Florida’s 29 electoral votes are the largest prize among the swing states in November’s election.

In Gainesville, 69-year-old retired school teacher Carol Winnermark cast her vote for Trump.

“It’s about getting the country on the right track,” she said. “I don’t know if Trump can do it, but he’s a businessman.”

But Kimberly Clawson, 49, said she’s disturbed by the violence she’s seen at Trump rallies and voted for Rubio.

“Rubio is in my opinion interested in making this country great and not chaotic,” she said. “I don’t want our country to go in a way that’s a free-for-all.”

Clinton supporters were also confident that she would pick up most of the 214 Democratic delegates, which will be awarded proportionally.

“The lack of excitement is not a problem,” said Alan Clendenin, a longtime Clinton supporter who is also a state Democratic Party vice chairman. “Hillary Clinton is going to blow it out in Florida. This is Clinton Country.”

Clendenin said Clinton has built goodwill in Florida since the 1992 election, when the state helped propel Bill Clinton to the Democratic Party nomination. President Clinton won the state in the 1996 election. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state won the Florida primary in 2008 over Barack Obama in what largely was a symbolic showing because the state didn’t get delegates after failing to follow the national party calendar.

Sigrun Spurlock, a bookkeeper from Sunrise, Florida, said she voted for Clinton because she is the most experienced candidate.

“She is the one who will unite the people of all races, backgrounds and religions,” Spurlock said.

Still, Alexander Crook, a 26-year-old working musician in Gainesville, said he voted for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“I trust Bernie more than Hillary,” he said, adding that he’ll still support Clinton in November if she’s the party’s nominee.

The state has about 4.3 million Republicans and 4.6 million Democrats on active voter rolls. Another 3.2 million Floridians registered as independent or with minor parties can’t vote in the primaries. Secretary of State Ken Detzner said only minor problems were reported as the state’s 5,810 precincts opened. He said none affected anybody’s ability to cast a ballot.