(LifeSiteNews) – The Florida electorate has experienced a net shift of 750,000 voters from the Democrat Party to the Republican during Gov. Ron DeSantis’s tenure, according to recently released data from the Florida Division of Elections (FDE).
Florida’s Voice reports that as of May 31, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 5,311,365 to 4,815,215, a difference of 496,150 (which is projected to have since crossed the half-million mark). At the beginning of DeSantis’s term in 2019, Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler notes, the state had “about 250,000 more registered Democrats than registered Republicans,” making for a total net shift of approximately 750,000 votes to the GOP during his tenure.
Part of the change is due to the Florida Department of State’s removal of more than 115,000 voters from the voter rolls for reasons such as ineligibility or inactivity. But state Republican leaders also attribute it to the popularity of successful conservative leadership under Republican DeSantis, who is currently running for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination.
The change “clearly showcases both the strength of the Republican Party and the expedited extinction of the Democrat Party in the Sunshine State, which cannot happen soon enough,” Ziegler said. “Our children and grandchildren will thank us for the voter registration gains we are experiencing today.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisMZiegler/status/1650966404810547200
“As the Republican presidential nominee, he will build the same successful coalition and win the White House, no excuses,” said Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis.
READ: DeSantis developing plan to stop DOJ weaponization against conservatives: report
Upon taking office in 2019, DeSantis quickly established a proactive conservative record that generated substantial interest in him as a White House contender, with a particular focus on combatting “woke” ideology in schools, medicine, and the corporate world, resulting in a 19-point reelection last fall during a midterm season in which most Republicans were considered to have underperformed. Earlier this year he concluded an ambitious legislative session that yielded new conservative laws on abortion, crime, guns, immigration, transgenderism education, and more.
One of the biggest distinctions of that record has been the governor’s leadership in the COVID-19 pandemic. While like all governors he temporarily followed the Trump administration’s guidances and issued some restrictions (for which he later expressed regret), as more information came in he reversed course, defying insistence that his policies would lead to mass death and establishing arguably the most anti-lockdown record in the country.
He took action to stop school closings, vaccine passports, mask mandates, and local lockdowns; pardon residents persecuted by rogue localities; sue the Biden administration over its ban on the cruise ship industry; and embrace therapeutics disfavored by the medical establishment such as hydroxychloroquine.
As a result, Florida was spared much of the economic devastation that hit states that embraced lockdowns, with even some in the mainstream media eventually forced to admit that the more restrictive policies of states like California failed to save more lives from COVID, while others tried unsuccessfully to promote a conspiracy theory about Florida’s numbers being fraudulent to explain them away.
DeSantis’s main competitor for the GOP White House nod is former President Donald Trump, who for months was the only major declared candidate and continues to hold a commanding lead in national primary polls. DeSantis, who announced his anticipated candidacy on May 24, has the edge in fundraising and is expected to be competitive in the early states, aided by an ambitious ground operation. Voting in the Republican primaries does not begin until next January with the Iowa caucuses.
READ: DeSantis says he thinks Trump has ‘gone soft’ on abortion: new interview