Florida Midterm Elections 2022: DeSantis Wins Amid 2024 Presidential Run Speculation

Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis He won re-election Tuesday night with a commanding double-digit victory over Charlie Christ in the latest sign that the state is leaning further to the right.

Voting ends at 7pm It was at least a 17-point margin of victory when the Associated Press called the race at just over an hour.

By early Wednesday morning, he had a 19.4 point lead and 99% of the vote, closing out the landslide.

Securing a second term, DeSantis, 44, has cemented his status as a Republican star and a potential candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

In his victory speech, he described the battle he fought in his first term when COVID-19 shut down the country and the culture wars erupted.

“We have seen liberty and our very way of life wither away in many other jurisdictions of this country. Florida defended the line,” he cheered.

“We chose fact over fear. We chose education over indoctrination.

These were the arguments that propelled him onto the national stage. It will excite supporters.

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis waves from the stage with his wife Casey and children before giving his victory speech Tuesday night

“We have seen freedom and our very way of life wither away in many other jurisdictions of this country. Florida held the line,” he cheered during his victory speech. raised

“Thanks to the overwhelming support of the people of Florida, the election didn’t just happen once, it rewrote the political map,” DeSantis said.

“Thanks to the overwhelming support of the people of Florida, the election was not just one, it was able to rewrite the political map,” said DeSantis.

A Republican victory in Miami would have been unthinkable just six years ago. Hillary Clinton He failed to run for president, trailing by 23 points.

Joe Biden won by 7 points donald trump 2020.

There were gasps from the MSNBC panelists when this statistic was revealed.

DeSantis has achieved national status over the past two years, opening up the state faster than others during the COVID-19 pandemic and playing a central role in the country’s culture wars.

Shortly before the election, he ordered the state to fly immigrants from Texas to the sophisticated liberal enclave of Martha’s Vineyard as a protest against the federal government’s failure to stop people crossing the southern border.

He built a war chest of about $200 million in the last election and is well positioned to run for president once the re-election process is over.

With Florida’s Hispanic popularity growing, he could become a Republican who could build a multi-ethnic coalition and retake the White House from the Democrats.

Miami-Dade results, which have a large Latino population, suggest that he did just that.

Supporters at an election night party hosted by the Ron DeSantis campaign

Former Congressman Charlie Christ gave a concession speech Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

And that could drive a wedge into the Democrats’ standard strategy for states to boost voter turnout in metropolitan counties to offset losses in rural areas.

A win only raises questions about whether DeSantis will set his sights on a national standing.

The 44-year-old frequently leads polls in which Republicans want to run for the White House in 2024.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, has sensed danger and is firing into the governor’s bow.

At a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump revealed his new nickname, “Ron DeSanctimonias.”

And on Monday, he issued a veiled threat.

“I don’t know if he’s running. If he runs away, I think he could hurt himself badly,” Trump said.

He hinted that he was ready to attack with personal information.

“But if he ran, I could tell you something less flattering about him. I probably know more about him than his wife.

Elsewhere, Senator Marco Rubio also secured re-election, defeating challenger Val Demings.

DeSantis has emerged as one of the most popular figures in the Republican Party.

Miami-Dade County Elections Commissioner Christina White (right) works with county judge Victoria Ferrer (left) for the Elections Commission to review signatures on mail-in ballots for the midterm elections at the Miami-Dade County Elections Office. are gathering.