Hillary Clinton won Florida’s Primary election Tuesday evening over Bernie Sanders by a nearly two-to-one vote margin.
Dozens of Clinton supporters gathered at Jacksonville's Cuba Libre restaurant cheered as CNN announced Clinton as Florida’s pick. Supporters were holding Hillary signs and life-size cardboard cutout of Clinton was propped against the restaurant wall.
Campaigner Melissa Beaudry was one of those celebrating. She says after the former secretary of state’s big night, the campaign is looking ahead to what could be a Clinton-Trump contest for the general election.
“Hopefully, when you’re putting up the rhetoric that Trump is speaking versus the rhetoric and the passion that Hillary provides for her vision for our country, it’s a no-brainer and that’s what you hope for,” she said.
A Jacksonville watch party for Clinton’s Democratic rival, Vermont Sen.Bernie Sanders, was also well attended Tuesday night. Campaign coordinators there said they made more than 860 calls Monday and spent Tuesday driving people to the polls.
As of Tuesday evening, the Duval County Election Supervisor reported a 46 percent voter turnout in the presidential preference primary. Clinton took 67.17 percent of Duval County's Democratic votes. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders trailed with 30.61 percent.
Donald Trump took 47.13 percent of the Republican vote in the county, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in second at 26.75 percent,Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 17.89 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 5.05 percent. The rest of the votes were split between candidates who had already dropped out of the race.
