Three questions among many awaiting answers Tuesday

Can a young Democratic Socialist candidate win the hearts of older voters?

Can a Broward School Board member appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis keep his seat with help from Democrats?

Can a Republican county commissioner survive a steady drumbeat of scandal and keep her Palm Beach County seat — with the tacit support of President Trump?

These are just a few questions voters will answer Tuesday in Florida’s primary.

Every time people vote, they reveal more about themselves, and that tells us more about us, collectively, as a place.

This election is no different. A decisive factor is who votes and who stays home, and that will likely prove decisive.

The Democratic Socialist is Oliver Larkin, a first-time candidate for Congress trying to take down an establishment Democrat, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, in the newly drawn coastal district, the 25th, stretching from Miami Beach to Delray Beach.

It has already happened in many other places in 2026. So far, 10 members of Congress have lost their seats. Seven of them are Democrats. Most were challenged from the left, like Moskowitz, in places such as Brooklyn, Detroit and Hartford, Conn., areas with many more young and far-left voters than live and vote in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton.

A Larkin victory would be a monumental upset in a district dominated by older Jewish voters and where support for Israel is a major issue. The winner will face a very well-funded Republican in November in one of the most closely watched, hard-fought congressional races in the country.

The DeSantis-appointed School Board member is Adam Cervera, who faces four challengers in Broward’s crowded District 6 School Board race, in the central part of the county.

School Board races are officially nonpartisan. But attentive voters know that Cervera is the only Republican on the nine-member Broward board and that DeSantis appointed him to fill a seat vacated by a Republican.

In hyperpartisan and deep-blue Broward, Cervera should have no chance. But his four lesser-known opponents are likely to split the anti-Cervera vote, he has the endorsement of both the Broward Teachers Union and this newspaper’s Editorial Board, and he put at least $350,000 of own money into his campaign.

Even if Cervera gets the most votes Tuesday, the race won’t be over if he falls short of a majority. He would then face the No. 2 vote-getter — a Democrat — in November, when turnout is much higher and Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts will be greater. For Cervera, it may be now or never.

The Republican county commissioner is Sara Baxter, who wanted to run for Congress but was nudged by a tweeting Trump to seek reelection instead.

Victory for Baxter Tuesday will not come easily. She faces withering criticism over her conduct in office, from a costly security detail to office perks to expanding her staff.

The Palm Beach Post on Friday reported an explosive, salacious story that Baxter pressured a former female aide to have a sexual relationship with a wealthy campaign donor — a claim the commissioner denied, calling it a “smear.” The paper got a copy of the ex-aide’s whistleblower complaint.

A very different question, of race versus experience, is paramount in the race for a redrawn 20th Congressional District, where four Black Democrats oppose Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She’s seeking a 12th term and emphasizing the value of her seniority while running as a white candidate in a majority-minority district outside her hometown of Weston.

The unofficial early returns show that Blacks make up 44% of the Democrats in this district who have already voted by mail or in person, and whites make up 41%.

When you think of this election, think old. Think very old.

Across Florida, about two-thirds of those who have already voted are 65 or older, according to unofficial returns. They are the most reliable and consistent voters in Florida. especially in low-turnout primaries like this one.

In the Democratic primary in the 25th Congressional District between Larkin and Moskowitz, 67% of Democrats who have voted are 65 or older, and only 6% are under 35.

The age demographic will skew much younger on Tuesday, but it will still be a primary dominated by, and decided by, voters born in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240.