{"id":14715,"date":"2026-11-09T01:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T01:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=14715"},"modified":"2026-11-09T01:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T01:25:35","slug":"florida-proved-again-it-isnt-like-the-rest-of-america-yet-change-brewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=14715","title":{"rendered":"Florida proved again it isn’t like the rest of America, yet change brewed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A blue tsunami washed over America Tuesday. Yet Florida Republicans found just enough sandbags to safeguard their power in a state that now looks more like a political island than a peninsula.<\/p>\n

The sandbags came in the form of a massive campaign-cash advantage and heavily padded voter-registration leads. Thanks to both, Republicans were able to eke out 51-49 wins.<\/p>\n

The results reflected a serious underperformance. Republicans have 37% more registered voters in this state. So this was like a photo-finish victory in a 100-yard dash where one competitor had a 37-yard head start.<\/p>\n

Still, the Republicans\u2019 across-the-board victories in statewide races were enough to ensure the party still has total dominance here.<\/p>\n

Most of America sent a clear message that it wanted checks and balances, Florida voters said: Nah, we\u2019re good.<\/p>\n

Most of America \u2014 even ruby red Texas \u2014 looked at the costs of living, the price of war and frequent cringe-inducing stories and said: We\u2019ve bottomed-out. Florida said: We\u2019re not done digging.<\/p>\n

Basically, Florida decided to keep on Florida-ing.<\/p>\n

That was the statewide story anyway. Locally, Central Florida rode and embraced the blue wave, which drowned the aspirations of virtually any candidate who had an \u201cR\u201d next to their name in Orange, Osceola or Seminole counties.<\/p>\n

Yes, even Seminole \u2014 a county once so reliably red that everyone from Donald Trump to George W. Bush made the Sanford airport one of their final campaign stops.<\/p>\n

These days, Seminole County still has about 10% more Republicans than Democrats on the voter rolls. But on Tuesday, residents there voted for Democrats across the board. David Jolly over Byron Donalds. Angie Nixon over Ashley Moody. It was the same in Osceola and Orange.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate the blue dominance here. Every single Republican candidate for the Legislature lost in Orange, Seminole and Osceola. That\u2019s part of why Tallahassee Republicans frequently target Central Florida. It\u2019s one of the few parts of the state they can\u2019t control.<\/p>\n

The bottom line: Florida is not like the rest of America. Also, though, Central Florida is not like the rest of the state.<\/p>\n

One of the interesting things about the statewide results is that there was absolutely no nuance. Every Republican won by the same skin-of-their teeth margin \u2014 50 or 51%.<\/p>\n

Many insiders had confidently predicted that Moody would trounce Nixon in the U.S. Senate race even if guys like Attorney General James Uthmeier or CFO Blaise Ingoglia struggled to hang on. Nope. All three got 51%.<\/p>\n

Florida voters didn\u2019t make any distinction between Cabinet members who stoked division and were steeped in controversy and those who avoided both. Uthmeier and Ingoglia both fetched the same 51% earned by low-key Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson who largely keeps his head down.<\/p>\n

It was like the candidates themselves didn\u2019t matter in the statewide races. Most Floridians just chose a party line and stuck with it.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the Republicans, they\u2019d stocked the voter pond in recent years. Older conservatives have moved to Florida while young, liberal and independent-minded people have fled the state for better-paying jobs and fewer culture wars.<\/p>\n

That migration pattern might be cruddy for building an economy, which is why groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce are so concerned about the state\u2019s economic future. But it\u2019s good for padding a voter lead.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s actually an argument to be made that Florida\u2019s migration patterns helped turn the rest of the country blue. Every conservative voter that moved to Florida, after all, was one less who could cast a ballot elsewhere. And every dollar spent getting Republicans across the finish line in Florida was one less dollar that could be spent in states like Ohio, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina, all of which turned blue.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis seemed to appreciate Florida\u2019s new status as a lone red island in a Tuesday night Tweet that said: \u201cWith the loss of governor\u2019s races in Texas, Ohio and Georgia, there will be only one state of the top ten most populous states with a Republican governor: Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats nationally rejoiced with Pete Buttigieg, a potential Democratic contender for the White House, saying: \u201cTonight proves it: there is no such thing as a permanently red seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe. But it remains to be seen if Florida is a permanently red state. Basically, did Tuesday\u2019s results, where Republicans barely hung onto power, prove that this state will remain defiantly red, no matter what? Or was the party\u2019s underperformance a sign of things to come in the Sunshine State?<\/p>\n

If there is change brewing, it will likely continue percolating from Central Florida.<\/p>\n

A question moving forward is how Florida Republicans respond.<\/p>\n

On one hand, they still have total control and can act without much fear of any branch \u2014 executive, legislative or judicial \u2014 providing a check or balance on the other.<\/p>\n

On the other, they no longer have the security of knowing they\u2019re assured comfortable victories, regardless of what they do. DeSantis won his 2022 election by 19 points. Byron Donalds won Tuesday\u2019s by 1. And presumably, Donalds wants to get re-elected.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s new governor-elect seemed to signify a more conciliatory tone Tuesday night than anything the current governor has offered in recent years with Donalds saying: \u201cEven if you didn\u2019t vote for me, you have my word that I will be your governor, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see. Actions matter more than words. And for the last eight years, the leaders of this state have leaned into actions that stoked division. But the divide in Florida doesn\u2019t look as wide as it did before Tuesday.<\/p>\n

This article was published by Orlando Sentinel and distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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A blue tsunami washed over America Tuesday. Yet Florida Republicans found just enough sandbags to safeguard their power in a state that now looks more like a political island than a peninsula. The sandbags came in the form of a massive campaign-cash advantage and heavily padded voter-registration leads. Thanks to both, Republicans were able to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t