There are now more registered Republican voters than Democrats in Florida for the first time in the Sunshine State’s history.
“When I got elected governor we had 280,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state of Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told a crowd at the National Conference of State Legislatures on Friday. “Today, and it will probably be fully publicized very soon, for the first time in the history of Florida we have overtaken Democrats. There are more registered Republicans in Florida than Democrats.”
KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES – 2021/09/22: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference before newly appointed state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo at Neo City Academy in Kissimmee, Florida. A day after being appointed, Ladapo instituted his first rule giving parents “sole discretion” over whether their child wears a mask at school, and also allowing students who come in contact with the coronavirus to continue attending class if they remain asymptomatic. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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The crowd applauded Gov. DeSantis, who then joked that Republicans would have won the tightly contested New Jersey gubernatorial race if the state’s Republicans hadn’t moved to Florida.
DeSantis explained that Republicans are fleeing to Florida to escape coronavirus restrictions, lawlessness, crime, and other factors.
DeSantis also explained that Democrats have not governed well in the parts of the country they control.
“Once these areas go deep blue they get destroyed,” DeSantis said. “How many places that are deep blue are well governed in this country? Can you name me some?”
FILE – In this Oct. 26, 2020 file photo, an election worker stamps a vote-by-mail ballot dropped off by a voter before placing it in an official ballot drop box before at the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File) (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
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“Tell me where you can find this success story of ‘woke progressivism’ imposed on a people,” the governor added. “I don’t see it.”
In 2008, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by almost 700,000 voters but that gap has narrowed every year since 2012, according to Miami Herald. This September, Democrats had a lead of only 24,000 voters.
FILE – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the opening of a monoclonal antibody site Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
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“The level of enthusiasm in support of registering Republicans is unprecedented, and this is a true milestone moment in Florida’s history,” the Republican Party of Florida’s executive director, Helen Aguirre Ferré, said.