OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis handed President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party some news on Sunday that they likely didn’t want to hear—namely, their party doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hades of winning there anytime soon.
The former 2024 GOP presidential contender and backer of Donald Trump for the GOP nomination this year told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo that “Florida is off the board” for Democrats following year-over-year spikes in Republican Party voter registrations since he first took office in 2018.
“When I became governor of Florida, we had never had more registered Republicans than Democrats in state history,” DeSantis told host Maria Bartiromo. “And we were close to 300,000 fewer Republicans and Democrats, this is 2018. Today, we have close to 900,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. So you’re talking about a million-plus voter registration shift.”
“And yes, part of that, I think, is a response locally, where people are more likely to switch from Democrat to Republican in Florida, nonparty to Republican than vice versa, and that’s been an important component of it,” he continued. “But I do think that migration has skewed amongst 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 to. And so I think that’s contributed to this really record thing.”
“Florida is off the board,” he added. “It is a Republican state. You’ve covered politics. 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,” DeSantis added.
WATCH:
DeSantis explains why Joe Biden and his Democratic Party should just write Florida off.
BOOM! pic.twitter.com/EyTVsQtw60
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) April 7, 2024
In January, after DeSantis left the race, Trump said he was “very honored” to be endorsed by the popular Florida governor, adding that he is eager “to work together with him to beat Joe Biden.”
“Very honored to have his endorsement,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “I look forward to working together with him to beat Joe Biden, who is the worst and most corrupt president in the history of our country.”
Just days before the New Hampshire primary, DeSantis endorsed Trump and withdrew from the Republican presidential race in 2024. The Florida governor took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and made the announcement.
“If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign,” said DeSantis, who was a distant third in the single digits in the latest polls in New Hampshire.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare this day to attack him. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge,” DeSantis added.
After winning the Iowa caucuses on January 15, Trump firmly established himself as the frontrunner in the race. Trump, at the time, held a significant lead over now-former GOP presidential contender and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in New Hampshire, with a margin of double digits.
Even though Trump has called DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” while campaigning, he claims he will no longer use the moniker. “No, that name has been officially retired,” Trump told Fox.
