21:22

The Guardian’s Dan Roberts has more on Marco Rubio’s victory in the Florida primary:

Marco Rubio. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Marco Rubio has launched his political comeback with a decisive victory in the Florida primary that sets up a battle with Democrats for control of the US Senate in November.



Despite announcing his decision to seek re-election only two months ago, the freshman senator saw off a challenge from Trump-supporting real estate developer Carlos Beruff to win the Republican nomination by a comfortable 71 percentage points to 19 in Tuesday’s contest.

Previously, Rubio had announced his retirement from politics after losing his home state to Trump by some 20 points in the presidential primary election. He was persuaded to change his mind as Republican leaders in Washington sensed that the senate race in the state could prove pivotal.

On Tuesday night the Associated Press also projected Florida congressman Patrick Murphy had won the Democratic nomination to run for the Senate – by a margin of 59 to 18 percentage points. It sets up a tight race with Rubio in November, who is now narrow favourite to hold the state and could prevent Democrats netting the four seats nationwide they may need to swing control of the Senate.

Murphy saw off a lackluster challenge from a once promising leftwing fireband, Alan Grayson, who was badly damaged by domestic abuse allegations and reacted angrily to probes into his background.

It looked to be a disappointing night overall for the progressive wing of the Democratic party, which had also hoped to unseat the former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz after she was seen to take sides against Bernie Sanders in the presidential race.



Sanders endorsed the anti-establishment candidate Tim Canova in the 23rd House District around Miami, but he was trailing Wasserman Schulz by some 16 percentage points by the time of the Senate declarations.

Canova, who did not receive much direct support from Sanders, hinted at a possible concession as soon as the polls closed, telling supporters: “No matter what happens, we should all be proud of what we’ve accomplished in a short period of time.”