Ron DeSantis Wins Over Hispanic County That Rejected Him in 2018 Election

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won big on Tuesday night, not only winning reelection in the Sunshine State but also proving victorious in the state's most populous county—one that largely rejected him just four years ago.

With 93 percent of the votes counted, DeSantis secured 55 percent of the vote in Miami-Dade County, according to the Associated Press. His Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, received 44 percent of the vote in the heavily Hispanic county.

The Republican governor's victory in Miami-Dade suggests a shift in Florida, one that is moving in favor of DeSantis. In 2018, DeSantis lost by 21 points in that county, receiving only 39 percent of the vote, compared to Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum, who scored 60 percent of the vote.

In his victory speech, DeSantis shouted out the county specifically, thanking Miami-Dade and telling voters who had rejected him in his first gubernatorial bid that he was "honored to have earned your trust and support over these four years."

DeSantis' gains in Miami-Dade are not necessarily surprising given the support he's been able to gain among Hispanic voters, even on immigration policies.

Polling from September found that 41 percent of Hispanic voters believed it was "appropriate" for GOP governors to transport migrants from the southern border to major Democratic cities. DeSantis notably joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on the political effort used to capture the attention of the White House on the issue of illegal immigration.

Latino voters, the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last midterm elections, have been found to feel disillusioned by both political parties.

Domingo Garcia, the current president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, previously told Newsweek that one advantage the GOP has over the Democratic Party when it comes to Latino voters is that Republicans have embraced the voting bloc in their messaging and appealed to them by running Hispanic candidates in the primaries.

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade also backed incumbent Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban American from Miami. With 92 percent of the vote in, Rubio earned 54 percent of the vote in that county. Comparably, the senator was defeated in that same county back in 2018, when only 43 percent of Florida voters in Miami-Dade cast their ballot for him.

The massive gains by both DeSantis and Rubio signal that voters living in Florida's major cities are beginning to favor the GOP, despite previously being Democratic strongholds. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won Miami-Dade was George H.W. Bush in 1988.