“Two more years! Two more years!”, the cry was unanimous yesterday in Tampa when the re-elected governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis, took the stage. He was the big winner on election night, beating Democrat Charlie Crist by nearly 60% of the vote. A resounding victory even in counties that had previously been solid Democratic strongholds, like Miami-Dade.
The victory of the governor, one of the favorites in the polls to become a presidential candidate, strengthens his chances for the 2024 Republican primaries, in which he has shown signs of wanting to participate. Hence the screams of his followers. Although the mandate of a governor is four years, the race for the presidency would force him to resign within two.
"The people have delivered their verdict: freedom is here to stay," said DeSantis, who stressed that not only have the Republicans won, but they have "redefined the political map." In a triumphant speech, the representative of the Republican hard wing, emphasized that his re-election was a victory against the so-called "woke culture", a term used by the American right to attack leftist policies in defense of LGBT rights, anti-racism or feminism. . “We fought against the woke in the Legislature. We fight against the woke in schools. We fight against the woke in corporations. We will never, never give in to the woke mob. Florida is where the woke go to die, ”he told his followers. “I have only started to fight.”
Now all eyes are on his next moves and whether he will have the courage to face his neighbor Donald Trump for the Republican leadership in the face of 2024. At the moment, a poll among Florida citizens reveals that both are tied in support.
Another of the winners of the night was Democrat John Fetterman, who gave his party a break by taking a seat in the Senate from the Republicans in the key state of Pennsylvania. His victory over television doctor Mehmet Oz, which many doubted after a disastrous television debate in which the aftermath of his recent stroke made it difficult for him to answer, was key to the Democrats keeping his majority.
The portly, six-foot-tall lieutenant governor of the state, who became a progressive hero in his time as mayor of Braddock, a depressed steel town, attributed his victory to his "every county, every vote" campaign strategy, with which he tried to bring the Democratic Party closer to white working-class areas again. "And that's exactly what happened," Fetterman said, dressed in one of his trademark hoodies. “We held the line. I never expected that we would turn these red counties blue, but we did what we had to do and we had that conversation in each of those counties,” he assured.
Another surprise of the night was Republican JD Vance's victory for a vacant Ohio Senate seat over veteran Democratic congressman Tim Ryan. The victory for Vance, 38, a political newcomer, was a blow to Democrats, who had relied on Ryan's well-financed and well-executed campaign as one of their best national chances to win the Senate.
Vance, a mutual fund manager, rose to fame in 2016 with the publication of the book "Hillbilly: A Rural Elegy," which portrays the desperation of a white family haunted by addictions, joblessness and economic decline. , and which is considered the best portrait to date of the Trump voter in the areas. The new senator from Ohio has always maintained that the 2020 elections were stolen, that there were a large number of people who voted "illegally", and at the time supported the position of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley of refusing to certify the votes of the electoral college on January 6.
Despite having been a critic of Trump, whom he came to call Hitler in 2016, he is now one of his allies and one of the candidates for whom the former Republican president asked for the vote. "Vance is kissing my ass," the former White House tenant said at a rally.
As far as Donald Trump is concerned, the former president has had a bittersweet night. Despite not appearing on the ballot, his support for Republicans of his string made him a shadow candidate. In a brief speech last night from Mar-a-Lago, he proclaimed an overwhelming victory, but the reality is somewhat more complex.
There was no “red tide”. In Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz lost his Senate race and Democrat Josh Shapiro won as governor against Republican Doug Mastriano. In Arizona, Kari Lake and Blake Masters, running a campaign inspired by Trump's cookbook, trailed their Democratic rivals. The victory in Ohio, albeit by a narrow margin, of JD Vance is one of the few strong elections of candidates sponsored by the former president, who hopes to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election next week. Add to that DeSantis' success in Florida, and Trump has reason to have slept restlessly.
Texas and Georgia were two other disappointments for the Democrats, where candidates Beto O'Rourke and Stacey Abrams, respectively, were again fighting for the governor's seat. Both became protagonists in the previous elections of 2018 after brushing victory in both states, in the hands of the Republicans during the last decades. But this time their campaigns have been far from those hopeful results.
