Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is now a red state, with a significantly larger number of registered Republican voters than Democrats, securing a solid majority for the GOP in what was once a key swing state.
“Florida is off the board. It is a Republican state,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We used to be a one-point state, every election hung on how would Florida go; that is not true anymore. And I think that’s a good thing for the party.”
The GOP in Florida now has nearly “900,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats,” he said, noting that in 2018, when he won his first term as governor, the GOP was about 300,000 voters behind the Democrats.
“You’re talking about a million-plus voter registration shift,” Mr. DeSantis said.
In the interview, the Florida governor said the GOP voter base is growing because more voters are switching from Democratic and non-party affiliations to the Republican Party than vice versa.
Mr. DeSantis said that another reason for the record gap is Florida’s policies.
“I do think that migration has skewed among people who come to Florida, not because they want to change the policies to reflect in Illinois, or California or New York, but because they appreciate how Florida has done it differently from where they’re coming,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Voter Base Shift
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 1.5 million voters. However, the gap gradually narrowed as the number of Republicans increased while the number of Democrats declined in the state.Florida made headlines in 2000 when Republican George W. Bush won the state with a 537-vote margin, helping him to secure the White House. Since 1980, Democrat presidential candidates have won the state only three times, and Republicans have secured it eight times.
Biden Campaign Wants to Flip Florida
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign said on April 1 that it will aim to flip Florida in November, noting that it sees “a pathway to victory” in the Republican-dominated state.Campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said in a memo first shared with NBC News that the Biden campaign has “multiple pathways” to securing 270 electoral votes, with Florida being one of them.
“Make no mistake: Florida is not an easy state to win, but it is a winnable one for President Biden, especially given Trump’s weak, cash-strapped campaign, and serious vulnerabilities within his coalition,” she stated.