Just a few minutes after polls closed in Florida, several prominent outlets called Florida. Trump had handedly won the state, meaning the former president will pick up the Sunshine State’s 30 electoral votes.
The win is no surprise to Trump’s campaign. He had consistently polled five to seven points ahead of Harris, with some polls having him up by 14 points.
According to The New York Times, the former president expanded his margin of victory in Florida this year compared to his previous wins in 2020 and 2016. In 2016, Trump won the state by only a little over a percentage point against Hillary Clinton, then by three percentage points against President Joe Biden in 2020.
Florida, formerly a swing state, went to Obama in 2008 and 2012. Since Trump’s narrow win in 2016, the state has become a Republican stronghold. Governor Desantis won by a historic 19 points in 2022, a midterm year in which the anticipated ‘red wave’ fell flat elsewhere.
“Based on the trends we’ve seen over the past eight years, I’m disappointed but I’m not surprised,” said VP of UMiami Democrats Eli Lehman.
Lehman noted that Trump’s win in Florida was projected immediately after polls closed in the Floridia’s panhandle, indicating the media’s confidence in a Republican pickup.
“In order to restore our swing state status we really need to get ahead of the Republicans on messaging,” Lehman said. “They have a lot of fear-mongering going on about the Democrats being socialists, which plays really well with Latino voters. We need to get ahead of them in the next four years because that is a complete misrepresentation of what we stand for.”
In one Associated Press analysis, the Sunshine State moved decisively to the right compared to 2020. Miami-Dade County saw the greatest increase compared to all other counties in the state, increasing 18 percentage points in favor of the Republican Party.
Lazaro Chavez, the PR Chair for UMiami College Republicans, believes Trump’s win is symbolic of “an overall rejection of the radical left ideology that has set our country back these last four years.” Chavez noted that Trump’s margin of victory in Miami-Dade was “unprecedented,” as Latino voters’ support was once steadfastly loyal to the Democratic party. It has since waned in recent years.
As of 10:00 p.m. on Nov. 5, Trump carried Florida with 56.2% of the vote to Harris’ 42.9%, with more than 95% of the vote reported.