With a couple of party changes under his belt, former Gov. Charlie Crist will not be moving back into the Florida governor’s office.
Democrat Crist and Republican Gov. Rick Scott were neck-in-neck heading into the vote.
Crist had 47 percent of the vote with nearly all precincts reporting. Scott had 48 percent of the vote.
Libertarian Adrian Wyllie pulled nearly 4 percent of the vote.
Crist’s campaign filed an emergency motion Tuesday night to keep voting booths open two extra hours in Broward County because they said voting irregularities caused long lines.
Crist called Scott to concede around 11:30 p.m. EST.
The heated race included high-profile names stumping in the presidential swing state as well as a debate tiff over Crist’s insistence on having a portable fan propped at his feet during the face-offs.
Bill Clinton rallied for Crist on Monday night.
“We’ve got two huge problems in America — political dysfunction and educational and health care inequality,” said Clinton.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie campaigned for Scott. “We know this is Florida. We know elections are always close. And so we don’t want to take one voter for granted,” Christie said, warning of going back to the “bad old days of the Charlie Crist governorship.”
Charlie Crist has now lost elections in three different parties.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) November 5, 2014
Join the conversation as a VIP Member