Primary races for North Central Florida's legislative delegation appeared ready to be decided by wide margins of victory late Tuesday night.

Though final results were not available at press time, the leading state Senate and House candidates appeared poised for victory by more than 10 percentage points late Tuesday night. Most of the races were characterized by last-minute negative campaigning that some said made the difference in the contests.

Democratic State Rep. Ed Jennings of Gainesville and Republican Alachua County Sheriff Steve Oelrich were coasting toward victory in their races for State Senate District 14, well ahead of Democrat Perry McGriff and Republican Travis Horn.

The two victors will face each other in the Nov. 7 General Election.

The district covers parts of eight counties, including Alachua County.

Former Gainesville City Commissioner Chuck Chestnut held a steady lead in the Democratic primary for Jennings' District 23 seat, which covers eastern Alachua County and northern Marion County, in a contest against Alachua City Commissioner Bonnie Burgess.

Chestnut will face Republican Cain Davis, a public housing administrator for the Gainesville Housing Authority, in November.

And in the Republican primary for the District 11 seat in the Florida House, David Pope beat former Columbia County Tax Collector Ray Walker. Pope will face Debbie Boyd, a Newberry city commissioner who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Jennings credited his 20 percentage point lead in the race to his stances on education. Though McGriff said he was hurt by low turnout and a series of negative ads paid for by third-party organizations in the final days of the race, Jennings said it was his platform that earned him votes.

"I like to think people voted for the team we put together, the vision we put together," Jennings said. "It was a message they could embrace."

Oelrich said he was happy to be ahead in seven of the eight counties covered by the Senate district and planned to take a 48-hour breather before returning to the campaign trail. He credited recognition among the voters with his victory, and downplayed the role of negative campaign ads against him in the race referring to them as "throwing dynamite on a mole hill."

"I think I'm a known quality," Oelrich said. "You know what you are getting here. People may not have agreed with me on every issue, but I think people know my heart was in the right place and that I did the right thing for citizens. I think that translates into someone that have trust with."

Chestnut was ahead in Alachua County, with more than 62 percent of the vote, and both he and Burgess said they were thankful their race was devoid of negative campaigning. Burgess, who was upbeat even as the results came in, said this would not be the end of her political career.

Chestnut said he planned to continue his campaign in the same manner he had been.

"We need to take this message out there," he said.

Pope, chairman of the Suwannee River Water Management District, said he believed his work traveling through the sprawling district to meet voters made the difference.

"I think it was hard work more than anything," he said.

The district covers all of Gilchrist, Lafayette and Suwannee counties and parts of western Alachua and Columbia counties. Pope won about 80 percent of the Alachua County vote and unofficial results had him winning in all other counties but Columbia.

The campaign was marked by accusations of negative campaigning, including a third-party group targeting Walker in direct-mail fliers. Walker said he thought such campaigning led to his loss but was glad he didn't follow suit.

"I can look in the mirror in the morning," he said.