DeSantis is the answer for GOP
Voters did the Republican Party three big favors Tuesday: First, they reelected Gov. Ron DeSantis by historic margins, turning Florida into a red state and showing the GOP the path out of the political wilderness.
Second, they appear to have given Republicans a majority in the House of Representatives — if a narrow one, from what’s clear so far — which means that President Joe Biden’s power to spend trillions of dollars with Democraticonly budget reconciliation bills is revoked.
Third, and most important, they gave the GOP a muchneeded wake-up call. According to the Fox News voter analysis survey, 75% of respondents said the country is on the wrong track. Yet millions voted for the status quo.
Think about that: On Biden’s watch, we have experienced the worst inflation in 40 years, the worst collapse in real wages in four decades, the worst murder rate since 1996, the worst border crisis in U.S. history, the highest gas prices ever recorded, the worst increase in the cost of shelter since 1984. Biden is the least popular president in the history of presidential polling (besides Donald Trump) going all the way back to Harry Truman. Six in 10 voters say Biden does not have the mental capacity to be president.
Yet voters looked at the alternative presented by Republicans and said: No, thanks. Biden might end up doing better in this midterm election than most of his far more popular predecessors.
How did that happen? It’s not because voters approve of Biden’s job performance; it’s because they disapproved of the GOP. It’s because in key races, Republicans nominated candidates whose main qualification was their fealty to Trump — and voters rejected them. Americans are desperate for change, but not the kind of change Republicans offered. And because the GOP didn’t give voters what they considered reasonable alternatives to Democrats, Republicans lost winnable races across the country.
Still, there was a red wave Tuesday — in Florida. DeSantis won by almost 20 points, the largest vote margin ever in a Florida gubernatorial election (and 17 points more than Trump’s margin there in 2020). DeSantis won by about 32,000 votes four years ago but by more than 1.5 million votes this time. He won independent voters by 20 points. He won female voters by at least seven points. And he won Latino voters by 14 points, the highest share of the non-white vote for a Republican in Florida history. He won in Democratic strongholds that had rarely voted Republican.
In other words, DeSantis did what Trump failed to do: He won over hundreds of thousands of people who did not vote for him the first time around. He was able to do this because he seems to understand that you can broaden your coalition while energizing your base.
DeSantis does not hesitate to take on the woke left. But he also has a command of the details of the bold conservative reforms (in taxes, education, parental rights and ending pandemic lockdowns) that he has implemented to make life better for his constituents. And when Hurricane Ian hit, he became the model of a chief executive leading in a crisis. Just days after taking a shot at the Biden administration by sending a planeload of illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, he worked with the Democratic president to get power restored and bridges rebuilt — without getting into needless fights. DeSantis excited hardcore Republicans without alienating swing voters — and won in a landslide.
If Republicans nominate someone who can do on a national scale what DeSantis has done in Florida, they could win the 2024 election in a landslide, too. If they nominate Trump, they may feel bitter disappointment again in two years.
I don’t regret defending Trump’s accomplishments in office. With the mute button on, his was one of the greatest conservative presidencies in my lifetime. But his conduct drove away millions of swing voters who liked his policies but not him. And his abysmal behavior after the election was disqualifying to millions of Americans, who made their views clear last week.
By nominating candidates in Trump’s image, Republicans squandered a historic opportunity. But the dark cloud of these midterms has an important lesson if the GOP chooses to take it: The future of the Republican Party lies in Florida — in Tallahassee, not Mar-aLago.