Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis believes Democrats will have no future success in the Sunshine State. This comes as statistics indicate that registered Republican voters currently outnumber Democrats by over 900,000.
“You’re talking about a million-plus voter registration shift,” DeSantis told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, citing prior data that showed Republicans trailing Democrats by over 300,000 registered voters in 2018.
“Part of this, I believe, is a local response in which people are more likely to go from Democrat to Republican in Florida, or from nonparty to Republican, than vice versa. That has been an important part of it, but I believe that migration has skewed among those who come to Florida, not because they want to change the policies to reflect in Illinois, California, or New York, but because they appreciate how Florida has done things differently than where they are from.”
Local publications have backed up DeSantis’ statements, including one from USA Today that referred to the state’s prior status as the nation’s most important swing state, probably most notably for its role in the 2000 presidential race between George W. Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore.
“Republicans now hold the biggest advantage in voter registration either major party has held in almost four decades,” the report reads, noting that the GOP reached an 851,417-voter lead as of last month, the most significant lead by either of the two major parties since Democrats’ dominance in the late 1980s.
The state’s panhandle, a vibrantly red territory, is expected to help Republicans win in November, potentially leaving Florida a “afterthought,” according to the research.
In an X post last Thursday, DeSantis cited local website Florida’s Voice, which collated data indicating that Republican support had risen even more to 889,569 on April 4.
Democrats apparently lost 1,000 voters in the same time period.
“Florida is off the board. “It is a Republican state,” DeSantis explained.
“We used to be a one-point state, and every election hinged on, ‘How would Florida go?'” That is no longer true, and I believe it is a positive thing for the party.