The primary races in Arizona and Florida show how the upcoming midterm election likely won't be politics as usual.

In the Florida gubernatorial primaries, both parties rejected centrist candidates Tuesday in favor of more polarizing figures.

Progressive Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, backed by Senator Bernie Sanders pulled off an upset against moderates in his party.

"We are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way," said Andrew Gillum, asking the crowd of supporters if they were ready to flip Florida blue.

His Republican opponent, Congressman Ron Desantis won the GOP primary with the full backing of President Trump.

"I want to thank him for his support, for entrusting me -- viewing me as someone who could be a great leader for Florida. So thank you, Mr. President," said Desantis.


In Arizona, another Trump pick, Congresswoman Martha McSally won the Republican senate primary. The race is considered a toss-up, with Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema hoping to flip a Senate seat in a Republican-leaning state.

"Traditionally the midterm really energizes the party that is out of office," said Brian Sobel, KTVU's political analyst.

Sobel says the main battleground will be in the House where all seats are up for a vote. A map by Real Clear Politics shows Republicans holding 235 seats to Democrats 193 seats with 7 vacancies.

"Maybe 29 or 30 House seats are in play. If the Democrats can get the majority of those, they could actually take control of the House," said Sobel.

At the Marin Democratic Headquarters In San Rafael Wednesday evening, volunteers were calling voters.

"This year we opened in March because we knew there was so much work to be done," said Pat Johnstone, the Marin Democratic Party Outreach Chair.

The work at these weekly phone banks is to try and flip traditional Republican strongholds in Califonria where voters chose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016.

"We have at least seven that we can swing in California and there may be even more," said Johnstone.

Republicans are also trying to mobilize their base. San Francisco conservatives are planning to do flyer drops and phone banks.

President Trump reportedly issued a warning to a gathering of evangelical Christians this week. saying that if Democrats win the midterm elections, they quote "will overturn everything that we've done and they'll do it quickly and violently,"

"He's trying to energize the evangelical base that he has to come out and vote," said Sobel.

The midterm elections will be held November 6.

