Former President Trump cemented Florida’s presumption arsenic a deep-red authorities connected Tuesday, flipping aggregate counties up and down the state. 

Miami-Dade County saw a Republican triumph astatine the statesmanlike level for the archetypal clip successful 36 years, portion the greater Tampa country besides went red. Trump besides flipped Jacksonville’s Duval County and ample swaths of blue-leaning Central Florida. 

Trump carried the authorities by 13 points connected Tuesday, dramatically improving connected his astir 3-point borderline successful 2020 and his 1-point borderline successful 2016. 

While Florida has been connected a GOP trajectory for astir 10 years, Trump’s triumph and Vice President Harris’s underperformance underscores the grade to which helium has tightened his governmental clasp connected the authorities and is besides emblematic of the erstwhile president’s over-performance connected predetermination night.

“I looked astatine Duval and I said Duval is simply a microcosm of Georgia,” said Florida Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “He wins this by five, he’s going to triumph Georgia for sure.” 

The system and migration reigned ultimate for voters’ apical issues successful Florida, similar successful overmuch of the country. According to the AP VoteCast, 41 percent of voters said the system was their astir important issue, followed by migration astatine 23 percent and termination astatine 9 percent.

“Now we person Trump crushing it by 13 points. Part of that is benignant of an affirmation of [Trump’s] docket connected issues similar immigration, system and inflation,” said Justin Sayfie, a Florida-based Republican strategist. 

Other Republicans person attributed the accrued occurrence successful the state, successful part, to a blimpish populist connection connected issues similar migration and the economy. 

“What Trump helped adhd to the speech is helium helped a batch of Florida politicians talk populist conservatism. I mean, that’s however you triumph Miami Dade,” O’Connell said. 

The messaging played good with the state’s Latino population, peculiarly successful South Florida’s Miami Dade County and Central Florida’s Osceola County. Trump notably flipped Osceola County, which was carried by erstwhile Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Biden by treble digits, by conscionable implicit 1 point. Miami Dade is location to a ample Cuban American population, portion Osceola County is location to a sizable Puerto Rican population, 

Sayfie and different Florida Republicans reason that Tuesday night’s results were the culmination of a fig of factors, similar implicit 10 years of colonisation maturation successful the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) wide praised handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a strengthened GOP infrastructure. Trump notably made Florida the halfway of the Republican beingness erstwhile helium became a nonmigratory of the authorities successful 2020.  

“This didn’t hap overnight,” O’Connell said. “Mechanically it started with Rick Scott,” helium continued, referring to Scott’s archetypal gubernatorial triumph successful 2010. 

“After that archetypal one, the Florida Republican Party truly started the elector registration drive,” O’Connell said. 

There are presently implicit 1 cardinal much registered Republicans than Democrats successful the state. 

Scott, who served 2 presumption arsenic governor, won reelection to the Senate connected Tuesday, improving connected his past statewide margins of triumph successful Florida. The legislator successful the past had narrowly won his predetermination and reelection bids successful the state, but defeated erstwhile Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell (D-Fla.) by implicit 12 points connected Tuesday. 

Chris Hartline, a elder advisor to the Scott campaign, attributed overmuch of the triumph to Republicans’ elector registration vantage successful the state. 

“It’s truly hard to comparison Florida to what’s happening successful different places successful the country,” Hartline said. “We won Hillsborough, we won Pinellas, we won Seminole, we performed amended successful Orange. Is that due to the fact that of a nonaccomplishment of Harris with suburban voters oregon is it due to the fact that we person much registered Republicans successful the authorities than we utilized to?” 

“And it’s hard to not wholly disregard the tactical broadside of it, which is Florida Democrats bash not person a functioning party,” helium added. 

Florida Democrats argued that determination were agleam spots connected Tuesday, including a 25-percent summation successful turnout from 2022, and the information that a bulk of voters favored authorities that would person enshrined termination rights successful the state. The measurement yet failed due to the fact that it did not conscionable the 60-percent threshold. 

“Over the adjacent 4 years, Florida Democrats volition proceed to organize, mobilize and clasp Republicans accountable — due to the fact that our occupation is bigger than 1 election,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried successful a connection pursuing Tuesday’s election. 

But similar Democrats crossed the country, the enactment successful Florida is grappling with what went incorrect nationally and wrong their location state. 

“Democrats had a catastrophe astatine the apical of the ticket, which I publically stated astatine the opening of the race,” said John Morgan, a salient Central Florida-based lawyer and Democratic donor. 

“Florida is officially Texas and Pennsylvania is officially Florida,” helium continued. 

However determination are Florida Republicans that are urging their colleagues to not get excessively comfy successful the state, informing that the aforesaid conditions that helped Republicans successful the authorities could assistance Democrats down the road. 

“At this moment, Florida is simply a reddish state, but I don’t deliberation the Republicans tin get cocky and the crushed is simple. You person a precise transient colonisation and things alteration and yet the Democrats whitethorn get it together,” O’Connell said. 

“Parties are acceptable up successful our two-party strategy truthful they tin reinvent themselves. That’s wherefore you can’t get cocky.”