Election 2026

Tuesday, Sept. 15, is National Voter Registration Day. This annual nationwide event serves as a reminder of the fundamental importance of voting and is an opportunity to encourage and assist eligible citizens in registering to vote.

Voters choose Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly as their parties’ respective nominees in the race for Florida Governor. In a surprise upset, Democratic State Rep. Angie Nixon defeated Lt. Col. Alex Vindman in the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate. She now faces incumbent Ashley Moody in the November General Election. Primary contests for U.S. House seats in the sunshine state were loaded with candidates, but voters by-and-large choose to back incumbents. We’ll take a closer look at the results and what they’re setting up for the General Election in a conversation with FGCU Political Science Professor Sandra Pavelka, Ph.D., and UCF Political Scientist Aubrey Jewett, Ph.D.

Primary election results Tuesday showed some surprising victories and expected wins across the state.

The Lee County Supervisor of Elections has started sending approximately 96,000 vote-by-mail ballots to Lee County voters who requested one for the Aug. 18 primary election.

The League of Women Voters of Lee County, in partnership with WGCU and the News-Press held a forum, July 9, with Lee County School Board candidates. Six of the 11 qualified candidates participated including Carl Baxter, Crystal Johnson, Debbie Jordan, Jenn McDaigle, India Palencia, and Carline Saintilus. We will listen back to a condensed version of the 90-minute forum in a special hour-long episode of Gulf Coast Life.

County elections board supervisors remind voters that they have a week left to register to vote or make a party affiliation change for the 2026 primary election.

The Florida Election Reporting Partnership will cover every school board election in the state in the August 18 primary.

The League of Women Voters of Lee County in partnership with WGCU and The News-Press, were the hosts for a candidate forum for Lee County School Board Districts 1, 4, 5, 6.

Formal qualifying opened at noon Monday for those running in Florida for governor, the three Cabinet offices, all 120 state House seats and 21 state Senate seats.

Governor Ron DeSantis, on Monday, signed into law Florida’s new congressional district map approved by the state legislature in last week’s special session. Just hours later, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new map were filed. FGCU Political Science Professor Sandra Pavelka, Ph.D., and UCF Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett, Ph.D., weigh in on what this means for candidates and voters, and what’s next for the Florida legislature.