The Florida secretary of state announced Saturday afternoon that the razor-thin races for governor, senator and agriculture commissioner will be reviewed in a series of recounts which were triggered because the margins in all three contests are under .5%.
According to unofficial results filed by the counties, Republican Gov. Rick Scott leads incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by more than 12,500 votes, or about .15%. The spread in the governor's race is larger, with Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by nearly 34,000 votes, for a lead of .41%. In the narrowest contest, Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Nikki Fried's advantage stands at 5,326 votes — just .06% — over Republican Matt Caldwell.
As the counting continues, the biggest daily developments in this story will likely be the flurry of lawsuits that can and will be filed from all the campaigns. There will be a pattern. Republican lawsuits will be designed to preserve the vote totals as they currently exist, the Democrat ones will be designed to expand the pool of available votes. That is not a good vs. evil comparison. It is a one side is winning vs. one side is losing comparison. Among the ones to expect: a lawsuit of some kind to allow Palm Beach County to extend their recount beyond the Thursday deadline (Read: CNN's Gregory Krieg's piece on the deadline here). And could Gillum, who has yet to sue anyone, finally join the fray and either file a suit on his own, or join an existing legal battle?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/12/politics/2018-election-florida-recount-what-to-watch-for/index.html
