Ron DeSantis won a second term as Florida’s governor in a rout on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, cementing Republicans’ grip on power in a state that was once a premier battleground and his own reputation as a top contender for the presidency.
Mr. DeSantis became governor four years ago in a contest so narrowly decided, by a mere 32,463 votes, that it required a recount. This time, he clobbered Charlie Crist, a Democratic former representative and governor with wide name recognition in the state. The Associated Press called the race right after the polls closed, a rarity in recent election cycles in Florida, a swing state that has shifted to the right.
Unlike past statewide candidates, who moderated their positions to appeal to the center of a divided electorate, Mr. DeSantis campaigned as an unapologetic culture warrior willing to fight the “woke left” and as a brash executive eager to defy public health experts during the coronavirus pandemic.
So confident was he of victory that he spent part of the past few weeks traveling out of state to attend political events for other Republican candidates.
His political ascent over the past decade from a backbencher in Congress to a presidential hopeful has placed Mr. DeSantis increasingly at odds with former President Donald J. Trump, whose endorsement secured Mr. DeSantis the Republican nomination for governor in 2018. The two men did not campaign together in the days before the election, and Mr. Trump, a Florida resident, tested out a derisive nickname against the governor: “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
Mr. DeSantis’s ability to position himself as Mr. Trump’s heir without his baggage has turned him into a darling of Republican donors hedging their bets against the former president, or looking for an alternative. Mr. DeSantis raised some $200 million for the governor’s race, a staggering amount that he did not come close to spending and that could seed a presidential run.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
