As the Aug. 23 Florida primary draws near, data released by the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis shows there are 100,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in the Sunshine State.
In November 2021, DeSantis announced that Florida—where Democrats held an advantage over Republicans of well over 260,000 voters when he took office in 2019—saw a net gain of over 300,000 new Republican voters.
On Feb. 28, 2022, the
Florida Department of State reported there were 5,135,377 registered Republicans and 5,045,849 registered Democrats, a difference of 89,528.
But according to the new data
released by the governor’s office, there are now 5,145,878 registered Republicans and 5,044,802 registered Democrats, a staggering difference of 101,076. More startling is the revelation that the historically blue stronghold of Miami-Dade County is losing Democratic voters. As of April 1, 2022, there were 585,882
registered Democrats in Miami-Dade, compared to 427,000 Republicans. At the
end of 2021, Miami-Dade had 594,924 registered Democrats, a loss of more than 9,000 voters in three months.
That’s a tumble of nearly 41,000 from the 635,842 registered Democrats in Miami-Dade at the end of 2020.
In Hernando County, where Republicans have traditionally held a majority, the number of registered Democrats (40,262) has fallen to third place below Republicans (64,488) and “others” (41,595) for the first time in its nearly 180-year history.
Florida was the No. 1 relocation destination for Americans in 2020, as
The Epoch Times reported June 9, 2021. New York and California, both heavily Democratic, took first and second place in the contest for which states had the most people choosing to leave. In 2021, Florida fell to second place as the most popular relocation state behind Texas, according to
data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.A number of factors have been cited by DeSantis to account for the influx of new residents.
Florida has no state income tax and does not assess an estate tax, or an inheritance tax. It also has property taxes below the national average. However, the governor insists that what’s attracting people to Florida is his refusal to allow the rights of Florida’s residents—particularly parents—to be restricted by liberal ideologies and policies.
DeSantis
refused to allow extended lockdowns on schools and businesses in the wake of the
CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, and he
banned forced masking and
critical race theory from public schools. In May 2021, he signed Senate Bill 2006, effectively banning vaccine passports. In July 2021, DeSantis signed the
Parents’ Bill of Rights into law, providing parents with control of their child’s education, upbringing, and health care. And on Dec. 15, 2021,
DeSantis announced the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act, “a legislative proposal that will give businesses, employees, children, and families tools to fight back against woke indoctrination.”
On June 15, 2021,
The Epoch Times reported on the advice offered by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd to those moving to Florida from blue states: “Do me a favor,” and “don’t vote the way the majority of the people voted from where you came, or you’ll have here what you had there. Guaranteed.”
