(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) For all the warnings and promises about electoral results being delayed and dramatic, there was at least one easy early call made Tuesday night, when the results in Florida showed incumbent Republicans Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio amassing a huge and insurmountable leads.
Along with the two high-profile national races, the fat lady, at the risk of political correctness, warmed up early and began to sing high praises for the GOP in Florida, with multiple media outlets projecting Republicans regained full control of all major state cabinet-level positions.
In a clean sweep of state offices, Republican Ashley Moody will won reelection for attorney general; the GOP’s Jimmy Patronis won another four-year term as chief financial officer and Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson was elected as state agriculture commissioner, reported the Tampa Bay Times.
Statewide races are not going well for Florida Dems. They’re currently down by double-digit margins in every statewide race as polls close in the deep-red Panhandle.
If Reps sweep these races, it’ll be the first time in Florida history that Dems hold no statewide elected office.— Ian Hodgson (@IanJHodgson) November 9, 2022
Those wins were largely overshadowed on the national level by huge early projected wins for incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP Senator Marco Rubio.
NBC News called the state’s governor and senate races by 9 p.m. Tuesday, with DeSantis amassing a 59.3-to-40.1 shellacking of Democrat Charlie Crist and Rubio running a steady 15-point lead over Democrat challenger Val Demings.
The room filled up at the Crist watch party just in time for the AP to call the race for DeSantis. pic.twitter.com/onrHXT8pTp
— Lauren Peace (@LaurenMPeace) November 9, 2022
In a rousing victory speech, DeSantis credited the state’s voters for choosing the right path forward based on the solid past performance of his administration.
“We have embraced freedom,” DeSantis said. “We have maintained law and order. We have protected the rights of parents. We have respected our taxpayers. And we reject woke ideology.
“We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”
Rubio predicted that the GOP wins in Florida were indicative of an overall change for the party and the country.
“You find people in this state from everywhere,” Rubio said. “You find people in the state from every background, and they have joined this incredible new movement that isn’t just going to change the country, it’s going to change the Republican Party.
“After tonight, the Republican Party will never be the same, and that’s a great thing for America and a great thing for Republicans,” Rubio said.”Because this is a party made up of people from every color, every race, every ethnicity, men and women.
“Yes, men and women — that exists,” he quipped with a jab and leftist woke dogma.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says, ‘after tonight, the Republican Party will never be the same’: “Because this is a party made up of people from every color, every race, every ethnicity, men and women.” https://t.co/O64iJY7tde pic.twitter.com/OtYn7BJI13
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 9, 2022
