Sarasota Businessman and GOP fundraiser Vern Buchanan has won the Republican nomination to replace Katherine Harris in Florida's 13th Congressional District (Sarasota - Bradenton).

Buchanan's ability to self fund his campaign and his endorsement by US Senator Mel Martinez helped him win four out of the district's five counties. With almost all precincts in, Buchanan won 17,489 - 33% of the vote to State Representative Nancy Detert's 13,180 - 25%. Another Sarasota businessman and former county GOP chairman Tramm Hudson was third with 12,629 - 24%.

Detert was probably the most liberal Republican in the race due to her support of legal abortion and a guest worker program for illegal immigrants. She won Sarasota County slightly over Buchanan after an endorsement by the liberal Sarasota Herald Tribune which is owned by the NY Times.

Buchanan will face former banker Christine Jennings who won the Democratic nomination for the 13th Congressional District, handily beating Jan Schneider, who was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee against Katherine Harris in both 2002 and 2004.