Eight years ago, election analysts considered Florida a concrete swing state that would provide the winner with a decisive advantage in the presidential election.
But since President-elect Donald Trump ascended to the presidency after the 2016 election, it has been a Republican bastion that has grown more red in every election cycle since.
Trump grew his vote share in the state from 49.02% in 2016 to 51.22% in 2020 and to 56.09% this year. In the process, he flipped the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, for the first time since 1988. With the recent domination, Trump has taken notice of several Republican politicians in the state, nominating a number for various administration jobs.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will likely be the next secretary of state. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is in line to run the Justice Department under Trump, after another Florida man, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew himself from contention for the job.
Susie Wiles has gone from being a talented political operative in the Sunshine State to running Trump’s disciplined 2024 campaign and will continue on with him as his White House chief of staff. And Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) is set to leave Congress to join Trump in the White House as his national security adviser.
And Trump is expected to keep returning to the well as he builds out his administration.
“There’s a lot more that are coming, I think, from Florida,” state Sen. Joe Gruters told the New York Times. “And the only holdup is that there’s such a slim Republican majority in Congress.”
A large reason for Trump’s revival of Republican politics in Florida is that he made the state his home base in 2019, when he switched his residency from New York. He has spent the majority of his time at his Mar-a-Lago estate, holding fundraisers, rallies, and other political activities.
It has earned him a variety of political friends in Florida from the mayor of Doral to the governor.
“He knows the mayor of Doral,” Hialeah Mayor Esteban L. Bovo Jr. said. “He knows me. He knows the mayor of Miami.”
But Trump’s electoral power in Florida is not exclusive to him, as other Republicans are enjoying riding his coattails.
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Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), a fierce Trump ally in the Senate, did not fall far behind Trump in his vote margin this year, winning 55.57% to Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s 42.79%. His win, along with Trump’s Cabinet choices, have contributed to a conclusion from Scott.
“Florida is the center of the Republican Party.”