WATCH: Sarah Westwood details how DeSantis turned Florida ‘solidly red’ amid 2024 speculation
Julia Johnson
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The Washington Examiner’s Sarah Westwood detailed on Thursday how Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has transformed Florida into a “solidly red state,” which could spell trouble for Democrats.
“Democrats in today’s political landscape cannot afford not to try to compete [for] Florida,” Westwood told host Neil Cavuto. “But DeSantis has helped accelerate the transformation of Florida really into a pretty solidly red state.”
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She noted that despite Republicans’ worse-than-expected midterm results, Florida performed well.
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Florida Republicans “protected seats, gained a supermajority in the state legislature. And like you mentioned, Ron DeSantis was reelected overwhelmingly,” she said.
According to Westwood, holding on to swing states such as Florida and Ohio “is slipping further and further away from Democrats.”
“They may have to look elsewhere to pick off states consistently like in Georgia,” she said.
DeSantis is widely speculated to make a 2024 presidential run, in which he would compete against former President Donald Trump in a primary. He has been shown to defeat Trump in some prospective GOP nomination polls but is still bested by him in several.
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While the governor has not announced a presidential bid, he is reportedly considering doing so in the summer.
“I think his mind is pretty much made up at this point,” a GOP operative said in a recent interview. “My read on it is: Let’s get through [the legislative] session, get some stuff done, and see where things stand. But unless something changes drastically between now and then, I’d say he’s a go.”