Florida should be seen as the political “blueprint” for the future, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) stated on Tuesday after emphasizing a number of the great wins for the Sunshine State following last week’s midterm elections, stating that his regime was “bold throughout this entire four years” and indeed the results speak for themselves.
During the news conference, DeSantis avoided criticizing former President Donald Trump, despite being asked about the former president’s planned announcement and “less than favorable” comments about the governor. Rather, DeSantis claimed “incoming fire” is just part of the job, pointing to the massive Republican victory in Florida last week, including his own, in which he defeated Dem. Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) by double digits.
DeSantis described the night as “the greatest Republican triumph in Florida history.”
“Of course, it wasn’t simply the best governor victory, but we stormed in.” We won an overwhelming majority in the Florida Legislature. We possess 85 Republicans out of the 120 in our state house, which has never happened before,” he remarked, noting that the state currently has 28 Republicans out of 40 senators.
“Never had this many,” he remarked, applauding school board triumphs as well as legislative gains as Republicans increased their representation in the U.S. House from 16 to 20.
While there were some achievements across the country, he noted there were also “a lot of failures.”
“I believe that is the case. It was a terribly underwhelming and disheartening performance, especially given how unpopular Biden’s policies are. People believe the country is heading in the wrong direction,” he said, arguing that Florida may serve as a blueprint for the future.
“The one area I believe people can use as a blueprint is Florida because what have we accomplished?” I mean, we came in at a really close race. In reality, prior to becoming governor in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018, all of the key contests for governor and president were one point or less,” he remarked, pointing out that he managed to win his 2018 campaign by a fraction of a percentage point in a “very, very huge varied swing state.”
“And we led, we were offensive, and we didn’t back down from major challenges. We took on those concerns, and we gained triumph after triumph for the people,” he added, adding that it became further clearer with the Chinese coronavirus, as the governor stood up to the “Faucian dystopia.”
“We were courageous over this entire four years,” he added, adding that he persuaded “those who may not have been in our party to vote for us.”
“And that is exactly what you must do. If you only get your own party, you don’t build, and you don’t win by a million and a half votes. And so, yes, obviously, we had a large number of Republicans coming out because they were supportive, and we appreciated that” he added, stressing that they also gained independents by 15 to 20 points and Hispanics by approximately 60 percent statewide.
“And so, I think, Florida really demonstrates the template of what you can do to not just win, but actually fundamentally transform the overall political battlefield in an extremely strong pro-freedom direction,” he continued.
