How Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will shape his state’s 2026 midterm race
Summary
The article says Ron DeSantis’s policies and political influence have helped shift Florida toward Republicans, making his record a major issue in the 2026 race to replace him as governor. Republican Byron Donalds is seeking to keep the governor’s office, while Democrat David Jolly is mounting a stronger-than-expected challenge.Key Facts
- DeSantis cannot run for a third term as governor because of term limits and is due to leave office in January.
- DeSantis narrowly won his first gubernatorial race in 2018, beating Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than half a percentage point.
- He won re-election in 2022 by 19 points, the largest Florida gubernatorial margin since 1982, according to the article.
- In 2022, DeSantis became the first Republican gubernatorial candidate in 20 years to win Miami-Dade County.
- Trump won Florida by 13.1 percentage points in 2024, compared with a 1.2-point margin in 2016.
- Florida Republicans have a voter-registration advantage of 1.5 million, reversing a Democratic advantage of at least 100,000 in 2020, according to the state Division of Elections.
- The article attributes Republican gains in Florida in part to DeSantis’s low-tax, light-regulation policies and his opposition to pandemic-era restrictions.
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