he wipeout of Republicans nationally could be felt for several election cycles, Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Wednesday, after one of the worst election nights for the GOP in decades.
“Last night we witnessed – to call it a wave I don’t think would be really accurate. It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States – blue states, red states and everything in between,” DeSantis told reporters at the Capitol.
Republicans lost control of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, and by wide margins, as Democrats surged to wins in deep GOP strongholds such as Texas, Kansas and South Carolina on the back of voter anger with President Donald Trump’s handling of inflation and the war in Iran.
DeSantis said Florida, which saw Republicans hold on to statewide seats and keep its U.S. House margin level despite losing their supermajority in the Legislature, was a firewall against the Democratic wave. But he also warned Democrats’ massive victory nationally would leave the GOP in the doldrums for many elections.
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“I don’t think most of us thought it would be quite this bad,” DeSantis said. “This is really going to have an impact, two years, four years, six years, maybe even longer before Republicans can exercise unified control in Washington as we have over the last two years.”
Florida Democrats, though missing out on the major wins others in their party enjoyed across the country, believe the results could bring them momentum in the years to come. Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said the close races – Republicans won the governor, U.S. Senate and Cabinet races by about 3 points or less – show national party leaders should invest more in the Sunshine State.
“We accomplished all of this without major national investment here in our state,” Fried told reporters Wednesday. “For years, Florida has been written off by people who believe the state is no longer competitive and too expensive. I hope they are paying attention this morning.”
After DeSantis won his reelection race by 20 points in 2022, he was touted as a Republican alternative to Trump during the presidential race in 2024. But DeSantis’ presidential campaign ran into a wall of GOP support for Trump that wanted to return him to the White House.
On Wednesday, DeSantis downplayed any notion of his next chapter, saying he’s focused on the remaining two months of his term. But he pointed to his own record and his push for a property tax cut proposal on the ballot as items that helped Florida Republicans from succumbing to the Democratic wave.
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“The question is why did Florida hold up? Why did we hold the line?” DeSantis said. “The answer is that we’ve built up a record of achievement, we’ve earned trust from a number of our voters.”
But he also slammed the former Florida House Speaker, Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican with whom he clashed repeatedly in the last two years. Perez tried to thwart much of DeSantis’ agenda, such as an “AI Bill of Rights” bill and a “Medical Freedom” measure. In turn, DeSantis rejected most of Perez’ big plans, including an overall cut to the sales tax in 2025. He blamed Perez for the GOP losing a net of 15 seats Tuesday night.
“There’s a lot of great House members,” DeSantis said. “But how they behaved over the last two years was not acceptable, and they had a rotten Speaker, and there was a lot of problems there so it just it what it is. I can’t bail them out of their behavior.”
Democrats, though, were ecstatic to bring the GOP advantage in the House down to about 70-50, depending on the outcome of a few races as more votes are returned. If that holds it would be the fewest Republicans in the state House since the GOP took control of the chamber in the 1990s.
“Florida voters made history last night, and they changed the balance of power in Tallahassee,” said Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland, who is slated to be House Democratic Leader. “We did it by recruiting strong candidates, investing in competitive districts, and building a statewide program that gave voters a real choice. Republicans have spent years taking these seats and these voters for granted. Last night, Floridians proved that no seat is out of reach.”
Despite the dour results for Republicans and the euphoria among Democrats nationally, DeSantis cautioned the results don’t mean a permanent swing by voters to the Democratic Party.
“Democrats are unpopular. They were able to win based off the sentiment that exists in the country right now. They did not earn a mandate to indulge all of their left-wing fantasies,” DeSantis said. “This was not a positive view of the Democrats. This was a rejection of Republicans in Washington and Democrats just happened to be the beneficiary.”
