Vern Buchanan Defeats Martin Hyde In FL U.S. House District 16 Race

FLORIDA — The race for the Republican nomination in Florida's U.S. House District 16 race has been called in favor of incumbent Rep. Vern Buchanan, based on unofficial returns, according to the Associated Press.

He was challenged by a Sarasota businessman, Martin Hyde.

Buchanan earned a staggering 86.25 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Florida Department of State's Election Watch page.

Scroll down for real-time updates of election results. Refresh this page for updates.

Polls closed at 7 p.m., but parts of the Panhandle are in the Central time zone. The first election results should appear on the state’s election website shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern time, The New York Times reported.Florida counties are required to release updates every 45 minutes until they have completed their counts, Mark Ard, a spokesman for the Florida Department of State, told the Times. A half-hour after the polls close, election supervisors in all 67 counties are required to report to the state early voting and vote-by-mail results that they have received so far.

Hyde has been a controversial figure in the race after making national headlines for threatening to end a Sarasota police officer’s career over traffic tickets. In police bodycam footage from the Feb. 14 traffic stop, Hyde can be seen telling the Officer Julia Beskin, who pulled him over for speeding and texting while driving in the area of Euclid Avenue and Fruitville Road, that she’s “making career decisions."

Hyde also told her, "Go call the chief. Tell him how rude you've just been to me. Play him this (bodycam) video. Then call (City Manager) Marlon Brown. Then you call the mayor."

He later apologized to the officer, in person and on his Facebook page, for being “belligerent and rude” and paid the three tickets he received.

Though the businessman briefly took down his campaign Facebook page and set his campaign Instagram page to private, he later announced he was still running for the District 16 seat.

Most recently, following the FBI raid of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Hyde said in a video that he’d have killed the FBI agent if they stepped on his property, the Herald-Tribune reported.

"I wish they'd turn up at my home 'cause they'd have gone home in a body bag," he said.

Buchanan also condemned the raid on the former president’s home, calling it an "abuse of power" that "resurrected the stench of the Russia collusion hoax,” according to a news release from his office.

The incumbent GOP leader and businessman has served in the U.S. house since 2007. He sits on the Joint Committee on Taxation and the House Ways and Means Committee.

U.S. Representative Primary Election 2022 Results For Florida

>> Real-time results for Florida's congressional races are below, via the Florida Division of Elections. Use the scroll bar on the right to see more.

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