March 19, 2024

U.S. Senate Race

How Candidates for U.S. Senate in Florida Compare on Issues

Amy Keller | 7/1/2010
This time last year, Gov. Charlie Crist appeared to have a lock on Florida’s 2010 Senate race, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee breaking its long-established tradition of not getting involved in primaries to declare him the “candidate with the best chance to win.”

How times change.

Candidate
Crist
Charlie Crist, 53
No Party Affiliation
St. Petersburg
Governor
Rubio
Marco Rubio, 39
Republican
Miami
Attorney; visiting professor at Florida International University
Meek
Kendrick Meek, 43
Democrat
Miami
U.S. congressman
Greene
Jeff Greene, 55
Democrat
Palm Beach
Real estate developer/financier
One year later, Crist has dumped the GOP, the NRSC has dumped Crist in favor of Marco Rubio, and Jeff Greene, a billionaire businessman with no political experience, is giving Rep. Kendrick Meek a run for his money in the Democratic primary.

Polls show the race is too close to call. A St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll in mid-May gave Crist a slight edge over Rubio, with 30% of registered voters surveyed saying they planned to vote for Crist, and 27% preferring Rubio. (The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4%). A subsequent Rasmussen survey, however, finds Rubio with a lead of 8 percentage points.

How this all shakes out with voters is anyone’s guess, but one thing is clear: The race is likely to be the most-watched Senate race in the nation. Following is a look at how the four leading candidates compare on issues, contributions, net worth and more.

Net Worth
Crist
Crist
While Crist has an individual net worth of $466,063, his wife’s assets boost his total to between $2 million and $4.4 million.

Rubio
Rubio
-$170,002 to -$497,998

Meek
Meek
$-25,980 to $179,999
Greene
Greene- Estimated at $2 billion

Fundraising
Crist
Crist- $10.2 million

Rubio
Rubio- $7 million

Meek
Meek- $6 million
Greene
Greene- While his campaign finance reports are not yet available, Greene has reportedly told some Democrats he intends to spend $40 million before the primary.

Next page:
Top 5 Contributors; In State/ Out-of-State Contributions; Major Endorsements; Controversy

Tags: Politics & Law, Government/Politics & Law

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