It’s official now: Under DeSantis, Florida is no longer a battleground as Republicans finally outnumber Democrats in registered voters

For decades, Florida was once the nation’s largest and most contested zip line state, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

For the first time in state history, Florida now officially boasts more registered Republican voters than Democrats, a major change from when Barack Obama first ran for president in 2016. 2008 when the registered voters of the Republican Party outnumbered the 700,000 of the Republican Party.

“Republicans currently hold a voter registration advantage over Democrats, just another sign that the state is letting go of its two-decade reputation as the nation’s biggest battleground state. It’s also worse news for Democrats as they try to take down rising national GOP star Governor Ron DeSantis next year,” Politico said. fourth report.

An analysis of Politico voter registration data found that there are 6,035 more registered Republicans in the state than Democrats, noting that each party has more than 5.1 million registered voters in total. 14.3 million.

“This is a pivotal moment in Florida’s history,” said Helen Aguirre Ferré, executive director of the Florida Republican Party.

Politico extra note:

The Democrats – who used to have firm control at all levels of elected office until Republicans won the Legislature and the governor’s mansion in the ’90s – have held the advantage. significantly in voter registration just a few years ago.

In the mid-2010s, between the tea party wave and Rick Scott’s gubernatorial election, the Democrats had an edge of nearly 568,000 voters. That number dropped to 264,000 in 2018 when DeSantis barely beat former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by more than 32,000 votes to become 46 of the state.^NS governor. Democrats also led Republicans with more than 134,000 registered voters last year when President Donald Trump comfortably beat Joe Biden in the state.

DeSantis, who has pushed Florida Republicans to expand their registration efforts and even contribute $2 million to the effort, correctly predicted earlier this month that his party had overtaken Democrats, a factor that he attributed in part to people immigrating to Florida due to resistance. -the policy of deadlock, against proxying that he promoted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“You are seeing people move to countries that value freedom,” DeSantis said during a breakfast speech at the National Convention of State Legislatures on Nov.

Democrats have been monitoring the situation for months and are well aware of the rise of the GOP under DeSantis, who is widely seen as the Republican front-runner for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination. if former President Donald Trump doesn’t jump in.

“Looks like we’re going to lose a little bit,” said one Florida Democratic official, who asked not to be named told The Hill in September. “It’s not anyone’s fault. A lot of these problems have existed for many years. But for a party that has been decimated in the last few elections and especially the most recent, I don’t see the urgency yet. ”

Steve Schale, a longtime Democratic strategist in Florida, told Democrats earlier this fall that they could be in big trouble going forward.

“Without a comprehensive, professional, and responsible partisan effort to turn the tide, by the end of the year there will be more registered Republicans in Florida than Democrats,” he said. write on your blog.