3 Dems skipped voting in past primaries
TALLAHASSEE — Five candidates are battling for the Democratic nomination for governor, crisscrossing the state trying to convince voters to get to the polls in the Aug. 28 primary election. But three of them have failed to do that themselves by skipping one or more primary elections in years past.
Philip Levine, Jeff Greene and Chris King all have not gone to the polls in recent primaries, state voting records show.
This year, a fired-up base of Democratic voters has led to one of the most crowded fields for governor in history. Voting has already begun, with more than 651,000 votes already cast either by mail or early voting, according to state data.
Levine, 56, a former Miami Beach mayor, didn’t vote in the 2006 primary, meaning he didn’t weigh in on the contest between Jim Davis and Rod Smith for the Democratic nomination for governor that year.
Levine also failed to vote in the 2008 and 2012 primaries. While there wasn’t much Democratic competition at the top of the ticket in 2012, as in-
cumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson faced only token opposition that year, there was a competitive four-way primary for a Florida House seat in Miami Beach, won by Rep. David Richardson.
Levine’s campaign didn’t explain why he didn’t vote in those elections but issued a statement noting he did fill out a ballot in the presidential primaries in 2008 and 2016. He voted for Hillary Clinton both times.
“The mayor has consistently participated in the electoral process and over the years has been a proud and strong surrogate for a number of Democrats on the ballot,” Levine spokesman Christian Ulvert stated. “Most recently, he was proud to campaign hard for Secretary Clinton in 2016 and voted in the presidential preference primary, just like he did in 2008.”
Greene, 63, a Palm Beach billionaire, has missed a couple of primary elections as well. He moved to Florida in early 2008, but he didn’t vote in that year’s primary, waiting until the general election to cast a ballot. He then ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, voting for himself in a primary, but then skipped the 2012 primary.
A spokeswoman for Greene’s campaign said he’s “never missed an opportunity to vote against Republicans in general elections,” but didn’t address his skipping of the primaries.
King, 39, missed the 2010 primary election. A spokesman for his campaign said he was moving from Orlando to his current home in Winter Park in August 2010 at the time of that election.
That means King didn’t vote in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate — missing the contest between former U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and Greene. Meek won the primary and would go on to lose to Marco Rubio in the general election.
The two other Democratic gubernatorial candidates, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, have voted in every primary and general election since at least 2006, the records show.
On the Republican side, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has also voted in every primary and general election.
His rival, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, has voted in every primary and general election since the 2008 general election.
His campaign did not respond to requests for comment, but DeSantis was deployed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Iraq as a member of the U.S. Navy between 2006 and 2008.