NAPLES, Fla. — It was a clean sweep for the GOP in Florida on Tuesday.
The state’s Republican Governor, Rick Scott, beat Democrat Bill Nelson in the race to fill a U.S. Senate seat Nelson has held since 2001. (Nelson had yet to concede the race as of Tuesday night.) And former Rep. Ron DeSantis defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum, the progressive mayor of Tallahassee, to become Florida’s next governor.
Polls had shown both races were very close, and the state’s key role in deciding presidential elections drew massive spending on political advertising and attracted luminaries to Florida in an effort to energize the GOP and Democratic bases. Trump won Florida by 1.2 percent in 2016.
The politically-divided state with its 29 electoral votes remains one of the most important factors in deciding presidential elections, and Tuesday’s contest was viewed as a referendum on Trump at the midterm period. President Trump held two Florida rallies in the past week while former President Obama stumped for the Democratic ticket last Friday.
Gillum ran on a left-leaning agenda that calls for expanding Medicaid, focusing on solar energy jobs, imposing a new corporate tax for pay for teacher raises, and ending taxpayer funding for the state’s popular school choice program.
Gillum may have been hurt politically by an ongoing state ethics probe into allegations he accepted money and gifts from lobbyist and an FBI agent posing as a developer. Gillum has denied wrongdoing and said he’s not the subject of an ongoing FBI corruption probe involving the Tallahassee government.
Gillum often accused DeSantis of racism, pointing to a comment DeSantis made on Fox News warning voters who like Florida’s robust economy not to “monkey this up” by voting for Gillum. DeSantis accused Gillum of corruption and warned the his legal troubles would follow Gillum into the governor’s mansion.
Scott surged to his narrow victory after crisscrossing the state with daily stops in Pensacola, where communities were heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael. Scott accused Nelson of doing little to help the people of Pensacola and argued Nelson isn’t doing much for Florida after serving more than four decades in government. Nelson tried to damage Scott by blaming him for Florida’s recent environmental problems, namely a toxic algae bloom called red tide.
While red tide has been impacting Florida for centuries, Democrats blamed Scott’s cuts to environmental agencies which they said led to weaker protections. The DeSantis win is a significant victory for Trump, who needs Florida to get re-elected in 2020. He’s now poised to have the state’s governor actively campaigning for him. DeSantis would also have a say a state-wide recount of ballots if one is necessary, which could favor the Democratic candidate.DeSantis will also have more success implementing his agenda because Republicans control both houses of the the state’s legislature.
