How the blue wave died in Daytona Beach

It was a pledge I heard several times at an election night watch party attended by Republican activists at a restaurant near Daytona International Speedway.

The mood in the room fell somewhere between cautious optimism and anxious foreboding for most of the evening as the DeSantis-Gillum contest and the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott remained close.

“I think it looks good. God, I hope it looks good,” a woman working check-in at the door said of the Republicans’ chances.

The prospect of electing the state’s first Democratic governor in 20 years, a proud progressive who supports abolishing ICE and a massive tax increase, had GOP activists contemplating drastic measures. “My husband said, ‘Which state do you want to move to?” another woman said, adding that his question was asked only partially in jest.

Maybe Georgia or Texas, MaryAnn Pistilli, a “Women for DeSantis” volunteer, mused at a nearby table.

Local activists were also concerned that Michael Waltz, the Republican nominee to replace DeSantis in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, hadn’t spent enough time campaigning in the district, which Trump won by 17 points.

Sitting nearby, Vic Baker, who directs the Volusia County GOP’s communications operation, looked unperturbed. He told me I could take DeSantis and Scott victories “to the bank.”

As the evening wore on and the polls remained tight, the alcohol began to flow more freely and the crowd grew rowdier. “Look at that face!” one woman yelled as a photograph of Gillum wearing an exaggerated smile flashed on one of a row of large TV screens above the bar.

It wasn’t long before Waltz was projected as the victor in his race (he ended up winning by 13 points), prompting chants of “Waltz! Waltz! Waltz!” It would take much longer for the fates of DeSantis and Scott to be determined.

The governor’s race was regarded by many as a proxy war between President Trump and the progressive Left whose revival is in large part fueled by their resistance to him.

Trump reinforced that narrative by endorsing DeSantis in his primary against the better-known Adam Putnam and appearing with DeSantis at several campaign rallies in the weeks leading up to the election.

DeSantis fully embraced Trump, cutting a campaign ad featuring his infant child wearing a MAGA outfit. In the commercial, DeSantis is shown using toy blocks to teach his daughter to “build the wall” and reading Art of the Deal to his son.

DeSantis even began employing Trump’s combative rhetoric, spending more time attacking Gillum than explaining his own plans for the state.

At several campaign events I attended, DeSantis mockingly ran through a litany of nicknames for Gillum — “Crooked Andrew Gillum,” “Failed Mayor Gillum,” “Radical Andrew Gillum,” which always prompted loud applause and chants of “Lock him up!”

For most Republicans here, the governor’s race didn’t pit Gillum against DeSantis but Gillum against Trump. In a speech at a rally last weekend, former Ormond Beach Mayor Fred Costello started with, “The first thing you should know is Ron DeSantis supports President Trump and President Trump supports Ron DeSantis. What more do you need to know?”

“Admittedly, I’m here to talk about Ron,” Costello said a few minutes later, before concluding, “So why do I support DeSantis? As I said, he supports President Trump.”

The following day, I asked voters rallying at the Volusia County’s GOP office why, beyond his alliance with Trump, they supported DeSantis.

“I don’t want illegals living on every corner. They’re taking over the homeless shelters,” said Dale, an elderly man who was there with his wife, Judy. Calling Gillum “the worst mayor ever,” Judy said, “We don’t believe in socialism.”

I asked Dale and Judy whether it was possible that the president had been featured too heavily in this race, especially given that DeSantis was running to be his state’s chief executive, not for federal office. “No! No!” Judy said, “[Trump] is doing a lot of wonderful things for a lot of people.”

I also spoke with Anne Marie Gennusa, a former New York defense attorney and Democrat-turned-Republican. “If Gillum were qualified, I’d take a look at him,” she said. “But he’s not.”

Inside the event, DeSantis promised to build on the economic path set by outgoing Gov. Rick Scott. Then he began his “Crooked Andrew” routine, so I stepped outside, where I met “Lindy,” a Port Orange resident who works for the state government.

A lifelong Democrat, Lindy told me she planned to register as a Republican the next day and vote for Republicans the day after that. “I believe the Democrats are not the Democratic Party that I grew up with,” she said. “Now it’s not about Democrats versus Republicans. It’s Americanism versus socialism.”

“Would you quit your job if Gillum wins?” I asked. “I’d definitely consider it,” Lindy said, explaining that she’d find it very difficult to work for a government led by a socialist. “I’d be very unhappy.”

Later, Volusia County GOP chairman Tony Ledbetter said that local Republicans were angrier in 2018 than they were in 2016.

Why are they so angry? I asked. The migrant caravan and the treatment Judge Brett Kavanaugh received from Democrats during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, he said, “And that bitch Pelosi saying [Democrats] will be uncivil until [they] win.”

Ledbetter then showed me the front office window through which four bullets had been fired a week earlier, including one that flew right through a “Trump: Make America Great Again!” sign. Nobody was hurt in the shooting, but the perpetrator remains at large.

Back at the election night watch party, it was well past ten o’clock before the governor’s race was called for DeSantis. Scott also won (though his contest is headed for a recount), and Republicans now hold every statewide office.

By this time, most of the attendees had left, but the diehard activists remained.

“When will you begin working for Trump’s re-election bid?” I asked Pistilli, a Trump supporter who was part of a group of women who registered 60,000 new voters in Volusia County in 2016.

“Tomorrow,” she said. It’s a task she’ll have much more time for now that she no longer has reason to flee the state.

Daniel Allott (@DanielAllott) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the author of Into Trump’s America and former deputy commentary editor at the Washington Examiner.