Rep. Kendrick Meek is the Democratic nominee for Senate, overcoming billionaire Jeff Greene's massive television and mail onslaught to win a bitter primary.
If he wins again in November, Meek will be Florida's first black senator.
Meek was outspent by an estimated 5-to-1 ratio and at one point fell behind in the polls after Greene entered the race on the last possible day and began flooding the state with television ads.
With 99 percent of precincts in, Meek won with about 57 percent of the vote to Greene's 31 percent.
The race was often nasty, with Greene calling Meek corrupt and Meek saying Greene bet against Floridians when he made investments that earned him hundreds of millions of dollars when the housing market collapsed.
"Mr. Greene wasn't a pushover," Meek said. "He was running more commercials than Geico, Burger King and McDonald's put together. He came hard and he was a businessman that had some success in life, but I feel Floridians know that the people of good will spoke tonight and they will speak again in November."
Greene said he would now throw all his support behind Meek.
"I want you to know that I intend to support him every step of the way," Greene said Tuesday night. "I'll do that because I know that even though we've disagreed, the difference between what Kendrick and the Democratic party represent versus what the two Republicans, Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist, stand for are far more profound."
Greene said he faced many challenges during his campaign that just couldn't be overcome.
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"We worked very hard, I think that I offered a good choice...but I think running against the political establishment is obviously very difficult, there's no question about that," Greene said. "I think that the media was very unfair with me with a lot of things that were absolutely not true and I think that certainly didn't help my campaign."
Meek will now face Republican Marco Rubio, who basically won the Republican nomination without much resistance, taking about 85 percent of the vote.
"I just called Congressman Meek and congratulated him, I think he ran a great race," Rubio told NBC Miami late Tuesday night. "I'm looking forward to having a spirited debate about the future of our country. As I said, I think Washington's making terrible mistakes that's gonna rob my children of the chance to grow up in a country like the one I grew up in, this one, the greatest country in the history of the world, and I want to make sure we change course."
Both will have to overcome Independent Gov. Charlie Crist in the general election in November. Most have Christ holding a comfortable lead in a three-way race.
Follow the results of other races, including the candidates for Crist's replacement as governor, here.
