By C. Douglas Golden November 5, 2024 at 7:34pm
It’s official: Florida is Trump country.
Sure, the Sunshine State may be former President Donald Trump’s adopted state, but the one-time swing state has already been called for the Republicans early on election night.
As of 8:30 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, the GOP nominee was leading Vice President Kamala Harris by a margin of 56.1 percent to 43.0 percent, according to The Associated Press returns, with 92 percent of votes counted.
The result comes two years after Gov. Ron DeSantis won a crushing victory over challenger Charlie Crist, 59.4 percent to 40.0 percent, an election that signaled a massive realignment in the state.
The AP noted in its call that Trump was outperforming his prior elections in the state, as well.
“When AP called the race, Trump led Harris by 11 percentage points with about 80% of the expected vote reported,” the wire service noted.
“Trump was generally doing better around the state than he did four years ago, including in Miami-Dade County, home to Miami, where he was winning the county with 55% of the vote. He won 46% there in 2020.
“Trump won Florida by 3 percentage points in 2020 and by a single point in 2016.”
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Perhaps most important is the story of Miami-Dade, which Joe Biden carried in 2020 while not getting especially close.
Biden got 53.4 percent in 2020, according to Politico.
The only major areas that seemed to be pro-Kamala were Orange County (home to Orlando), Leon County (home to the state capital of Tallahassee) and Broward and Palm Beach Counties north of Miami-Dade.
Even with that, Palm Beach County was only slightly tending toward Harris, with 49.9 vs. 49.3 percent.
Not only that, but several major ballot measures failed for Democrats.
A measure to create a create a “right to abortion” failed to get the required 60 percent supermajority to pass.
A ballot measure to legalize marijuana failed outright.
In addition, while some polls were predicting that GOP Sen. Rick Scott might be in for a tough challenge, Scott already had the race called for him with a 56 percent to 43 percent advantage over challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, according to The New York Times.
“Some Democrats argued that their party should invest in the presidential race or the Senate race,” The Washington Post noted. “They never made major investments, and the results suggest that was probably the right call.”
Trump country indeed.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture
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