{"id":451522,"date":"2026-11-09T08:44:25","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T08:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/451522\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T08:44:25","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T08:44:25","slug":"florida-gov-ron-desantis-says-corporatist-republicans-drive-young-voters-toward-socialism-after-midterm-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/451522\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says ‘corporatist Republicans’ drive young voters toward socialism after midterm disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said<\/a> the GOP only has itself to blame for the youth\u2019s turn toward socialism after voters 30 and under swung left during last week\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The term-limited governor blamed \u201ccorporatist Republicans\u201d who bend government toward favored industries and companies for young Americans\u2019 negativity toward capitalism and increasingly positive outlook on socialism during an appearance on \u201cThe Sage Steele Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waves as he departs the stage at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference in Washington on June 23, 2023. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people have a very positive view of socialism compared to capitalism. The question is, why is that?\u201d DeSantis said<\/a> Wednesday \u2014 just a day after Democrats seized both chambers of Congress by overwhelming margins.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of it is the education in our universities. But I think a big part of that is, what they\u2019re comparing is not free enterprise versus socialism. What they\u2019re comparing is how government gets involved in business, and you have crony capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during preparations for the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 16, 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best kind of indirect supporters of socialism are some of these corporatist Republicans who propagate these crony policies,\u201d he went on, arguing such individuals turn off young people.<\/p>\n

For a Republican like himself, DeSantis said<\/a>, a socialist on the ballot is an easy no. Less certain, he said, is whether the label still scandalizes \u201cthe broader electorate who aren\u2019t as partisan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s cronyism versus socialism, there\u2019s going to be enough people who are going to choose socialism,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis reacts to midterm election results on the Sage Steele Show. The Sage Steele Show\/Youtube<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s results suggest the \u201csocialist\u201d label frightened few.<\/p>\n

Republicans spent much of the cycle tying vulnerable lefty Democrats to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.<\/p>\n

\u201cHouse Republicans will make Zohran Mamdani famous in battleground races next November,\u201d the National Republican Congressional Committee promised in an October 2025 memo, according to Axios<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waits as U.S. President Trump arrives at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Fla., Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

By Wednesday, DeSantis had already called the elections \u201cclose to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country.\u201d <\/p>\n

On X, he predicted<\/a> the Senate may stay out of GOP hands until 2032.<\/p>\n

The results bore out his gloom. Democrats took Republican-held Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a campaign event at Refuge City Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Oct. 8, 2023. Getty Images<\/p>\n

In Florida, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) won the governor\u2019s mansion by just over a point, edging Democrat David Jolly to succeed the term-limited DeSantis.<\/p>\n

His case against cronyism predates the drubbing. In September, he told<\/a> the Heartland Institute that crony capitalism has \u201cwarmed over socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowhere was the rout steeper than among the voters he was describing. Those under 30 went for Democratic House candidates 66% to 31%, according to a preliminary estimate from Tufts University\u2019s CIRCLE<\/a> \u2014 up from a 14-point Democratic margin in the 2024 House exit poll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the GOP only has itself to blame for the youth\u2019s turn toward socialism…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[175306,173084,77284,28,30,29,110875,99,412,30495,4278],"class_list":["post-451522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-capitalism","tag-crony-capitalism","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-politics","tag-ron-desantis","tag-socialism","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}