ORLANDO, Fla. —
Democrats pulled off the national blue wave after Tuesday’s elections, winning the House and Senate to make for one of the largest blue-wave victories in decades.
Meanwhile, Florida is still red, but the Republican supermajority is gone.
Could this be a sign of “economic” times?
“Even if you didn’t vote for me, you have my word that I will be your governor, too,” Governor-elect Byron Donalds said after Tuesday night’s elections.
Republicans won the governor’s mansion with Byron Donalds, the first Black governor in Florida’s history.
The GOP maintained the state Cabinet and its U.S. Senate seat.
But Democrats won multiple congressional districts, some calling it a blue wave, going from 34 seats to 50.
“It was a historic night for Democrats across the state. We were able to flip 16 seats in the Florida House and one in the Florida Senate,” said state Rep. Samuel Vilchez Santiago, D-Orlando.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added, “This is as close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country as we have seen, probably in the last 100 years.”
What are voters saying?
“I think people have seen, you know, Trump in office and Republicans in office and the prices are continuing to increase and so it is a time where they want a change. I want life to be more affordable,” one woman told WESH 2’s Gail Paschall-Brown.
“I feel like since everyone is going through the same struggle and experiencing hardship similar to one another, you’re least likely to butt heads when you’re struggling with your neighbor,” another man said.
In the Florida House District 35 race covering parts of Orange and Osceola counties, Democrat Eric Gray defeated incumbent Erika Booth with about 56% of the vote.
“I think everybody now understands there’s time for change and that people felt it everywhere. I think this is as much as a referendum on bad policy and lack of trust with current elected leaders,” Gray said.
Samuel Vilchez Santiago’s seat was not a flip when he won his race for Florida House District 43.
He also serves as chair of the Orange County Democratic Executive Committee.
“In many cases, they were just voting to express opposition to the Trump administration, opposition to the current economic outcomes we have seen over the last two years and opposition to a lot of the policies we’ve seen coming down from Tallahassee,” he said.
Samuel Vilchez Santiago said we need a legislature that is going to focus on the needs of everyday people.
He expects another blue wave in two years.