Republicans dominate statewide, congressional races in Florida

As expect­ed, giv­en Gov­er­nor Ron De San­tis’ forc­ing through a ger­ry­man­der­ing of the state’s con­gres­sion­al dis­tricts that favors Repub­li­cans, refus­ing to cut some slack for vot­ers in Demo­c­ra­t­ic-major­i­ty areas but hap­pi­ly doing so for Repub­li­can-major­i­ty areas adverse­ly affect­ed by hur­ri­cane Ian, and using his Flori­da Office of Elec­tion Crimes and Secu­ri­ty to intim­i­date and arrest black Florid­i­ans in par­tic­u­lar, it’s no sur­prise that Repub­li­cans are win­ning in Flori­da’s statewide and con­gres­sion­al races this evening.

With 88% of the votes count­ed, Gov­er­nor De San­tis is eas­i­ly defeat­ing for­mer Demo­c­ra­t­ic mem­ber of Con­gress Char­lie Crist, 59.3% to 40.1%. Sen­a­tor Mar­co Rubio is also defeat­ing for­mer Demo­c­ra­t­ic mem­ber of Con­gress Val Dem­ings, 57.1% to 41.3%.

With 99% of the votes count­ed in Char­lie Crist’s Con­gres­sion­al seat in the 13th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, Repub­li­can Anna Luna is defeat­ing Demo­c­rat Eric Lynn, 53.4% to 44.8%. The seat had been made con­sid­er­ably red­der thanks to De San­tis’ gerrymander.

In the 1st Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, poten­tial pedophile and incum­bent mem­ber of Con­gress Matt Gaetz eas­i­ly defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent Rebekah Jones, 67.3% to 37.2%.

In the 2nd Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, incum­bent mem­ber of Con­gress Neal Dunn eas­i­ly defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent Al Law­son, who stayed and fought after his pre-ger­ry­man­der­ing major­i­ty black 5th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict was erased, 60.1% to 39.9%.

In the 3rd Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, incum­bent mem­ber of Con­gress Kat Cam­mack eas­i­ly defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent Danielle Hawk, 62.7% to 36.2%.

In the 4th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, incum­bent mem­ber of Con­gress Arron Bean  eas­i­ly defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent La Shon­da Hol­loway, 60.7% to 39.3%.

In the 6th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, incum­bent mem­ber of Con­gress Michael Walsh eas­i­ly defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent Joseph Han­noush, 75.3% to 24.7%.

In the 7th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, the seat was tech­ni­cal­ly open but the incum­bent Demo­c­rat, Stephanie Mur­phy, retired in expec­ta­tion of the seat being made red through ger­ry­man­der­ing, and it was. Repub­li­can can­di­date Corey Mil­lls defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­nent Karen Green, 58.5% to 41.5%.

The Democ­rats were actu­al­ly thought to have a chance against Repub­li­can incum­bent Maria Elvi­ra Salazar in the 27th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, but she defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic state Sen­a­tor Annette Tad­deo 57.4% to 42.6%.

…and on and on it went.

Democ­rats did well in a sliv­er of the Tam­pa Bay-St. Peter­surg area, most of the greater Orlan­do area, and in the greater Mia­mi area — they won races in the 9th, 10th, 14th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th Con­gres­sion­al Districts.

But at the end of the car­nage, the Repub­li­cans held twen­ty Con­gres­sion­al seats in Flori­da, the Democ­rats eight.

One can expect a full-on mutiny of the Demo­c­ra­t­ic faith­ful against Flori­da Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty chair Man­ny Diaz — the for­mer Mia­mi may­or who was sup­posed to help turn around the par­ty’s for­tunes after a dis­as­trous 2020 elec­tion — once the smoke clears.