CONGRESSIONAL RACES

In one of Central Florida’s most-contested Congressional races, Stephanie Murphy defeats State Rep. Mike Miller in District 7. Also, Darren Soto defeats Wayne Liebnitzky in District 9. Also Daniel Webster, a Central Florida Republican stalwart, defeats a progressive District 11.

ORLANDO – There should be no doubt now: Florida is a red state.

Sure, pundits describe us as purple — a state full of fickle voters who go Democrat one year and Republican another. And that may be true in presidential races.

But in state-level politics, Florida has opted for Republican rule for 20 straight years.

And Tuesday, voters continued that streak … during an alleged “blue wave.”

Republican governor. Republican Cabinet. Republican Legislature.

Florida not only avoided the blue wave, it actually created a bit of a red tide as Rick Scott looks to have sent U.S. Senator Bill Nelson packing.

Yes, while the rest of America was turning Congressional seats blue, Florida flipped a key seat the other way.

Now, most of the races were close. And some Democrats may stress they lost races by only a point or two. But the key word in that sentence is “lost.”

Remember: Scott won both of

his terms as governor by a single point … the same way he looks to enter the U.S. Senate.

And now you have a new onepoint governor: Ron DeSantis.

At the end of the day, the margins don’t really matter. The only thing that does is victory.

Democrats thought they’d found something different in Andrew Gillum. After four straight cycles of fielding moderates, Democrats put forward someone who was proudly liberal. He talked of raising taxes on corporations and showering public schools with cash.

And there’s no doubt Gillum fired up crowds in a way past Democrats didn’t. His rallies were raucous, energetic affairs,

unlike the sedate, golf-clap-filled events Democrats staged for centrists past.

But at the end of the day, the brash, young progressive lost by the same 1 point as the soft-spoken moderates.

DeSantis was underestimated most every step of the way. A few months ago, most Republicans didn’t think he even had a chance to win his own party’s primary.

But DeSantis chose a simple strategy that had two main parts: Donald Trump and Fox News.

The president was more than just an asset to DeSantis; Trump was the bedrock of the DeSantis campaign. DeSantis featured the president in his earliest ads and his final rallies.

And while his opponents pounded the pavement and traversed the state (both Gillum and Republican Adam Putnam),

DeSantis campaigned from the Fox News broadcast booth.

DeSantis took heat for not focusing enough on Florida issues — like polluted waters and struggling schools. And he didn’t have much of a health-care plan, choosing to instead knock Gillum’s.

But it turns out, he didn’t need one. DeSantis just called Gillum a “socialist” over and over and over. He also asked Floridians a pretty simple question: Are you happy with your life? If so, I’m your guy — the one who will continue the GOP policies you’ve come to expect and enjoy.

Democrats had a chance in the primary to nominate a candidate who’d actually beaten a Republican before: former Congresswoman Gwen Graham. But primary voters decided they’d had enough of boring centrists. They

wanted something different. They got it … and lost all the same.

Now, it certainly didn’t help that, in choosing Gillum, Democrats chose a mayor whose city was in the midst of an FBI investigation. Or that reports about shady Broadway tickets surfaced at the last minute. I sure thought that stunk. Of course, I also thought it stunk when DeSantis, as a member of Congress, moved into a condo owned by a defense contractor.

You know what else stinks? Polls.

We knew this already. Polls in 2016 predicted Hillary Clinton had a 100 percent chance of winning. Polls in August predicted Gillum had virtually no chance of winning his primary. And 34 of the last 36 polls showed DeSantis losing.

I expect most media to learn absolutely nothing from this and continue to rely on errant horserace coverage in future campaigns … with guys like DeSantis laughing all the way to the victory line.

And now that he’s a victor, DeSantis actually has an easier job than Gillum would have if he had won — because DeSantis didn’t actually promise voters much.

He didn’t promise better schools. He didn’t promise massive new health-care options.

While Gillum promised to change Florida’s political landscape, DeSantis simply promised to helm a mostly steady ship … in the same reliably red way it has been helmed for the past 20 years.