Republican incumbents Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio won easily in closely watched contests in Florida, in large part due to numerous South Florida counties casting considerably more Republican votes than in previous elections.
The usually blue Miami-Dade County, which voted for DeSantis for governor for the first time in the county’s 20-year history, was where the change was most noticeable. As of early Wednesday morning, according to state data, DeSantis had won 55.3% of the vote in Miami-Dade compared to Charlie Crist’s 44%. Compare that to 2018, when Democrat Andrew Gillum defeated Republican Ron DeSantis in the county by a margin of more than 20 points. Additionally, Rubio won the county over Democrat Rep. Val Demings after falling short by more than 11 points in 2016.
It’s fantastic to be gathered here in Miami-crimson Dade’s county. At the start of his victory address on Tuesday night, Rubio stated.
Even in South Florida counties where Republicans did not do as well, the GOP fared much better than in recent years. DeSantis received 41.9% of the vote, compared to Crist’s 57.4% in Broward County, a blue county. While not particularly close, this is still far closer than the over 37-point defeat he suffered there in 2018.
