Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Wednesday that Republicans have been nearly wiped out nationally after devastating election losses, while highlighting his state as the lone remaining GOP stronghold among the 10 most populous states as speculation builds about his political future in 2028.
Tuesday was an otherwise brutal night for the GOP, as the Trump movement faces major questions amid setbacks in longtime Republican strongholds such as Kansas and Texas, while holding Senate seats in West Virginia and deep-red Wyoming and South Dakota.
“This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans… out of the 10 largest states in this union, only one state will have Republican control of their state, the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at a Wednesday news conference.
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“We’ve built up a record of achievement. We’ve earned trust from a number of our voters that, even in the worst situation that you can imagine politically, we were able to hold the line,” DeSantis added.
Fox News Digital reached out to DeSantis for comment.
Orlando-based political strategist and pollster Doug Kaplan told Fox News Digital that DeSantis appears to be eyeing a lasting role on the national stage.
“I think last night was a big night for DeSantis. If you’re looking at winners on the Republican side, then I think he’s found his lane if he wants to run for president in 2028,” he said.
Kaplan characterized DeSantis’ comments as an “opening salvo” in an effort to distance himself from the Trump-led status quo in the Republican Party, though he acknowledged the staying power of Trump’s MAGA movement among GOP primary voters.
DeSantis also highlighted his own push for the election-cycle buzzword “affordability” in Florida.
Amendment 3 passed with about 62% of the vote Tuesday. It increases homestead property tax exemptions from $50,000 to $250,000 by 2028.
“The existence of Amendment 3 on the ballot is one of the reasons Florida averted the fate of other red states. It drew more voters to the polls,” DeSantis said, highlighting an issue on which Republicans still won decisively.
Kaplan predicted Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, may also follow DeSantis’ tack. Both men saw their party take major losses in their home states, he noted, citing Vance’s former Senate seat going to Democrat Sherrod Brown.
DeSantis highlighted losses in Cruz’s home state but did not reference the senator: “Texas has been the most significant Republican state this century. A Democrat sweep of statewide races — and possible capture of the legislature — takes away one of the anchors of the modern GOP. A huge loss,” DeSantis said, echoing his point that Florida remains the only one of the 10 most populous states with a Republican governor.
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He pointed to stunning upsets that included Kansas, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and potentially Mississippi — which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since segregationist Sen. John Stennis’ last term in the 1980s.
“If Mississippi goes down, that will give Dems 56 Senate seats,” DeSantis said. The Magnolia State emerged as perhaps the biggest surprise of the morning, with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith trailing Scott Colom, a Democratic state district judge from Lowndes County, by about one-tenth of 1% in a race most Republicans didn’t even have on their radar.
Former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican whose now-Democrat-run city maintained a 3-1 Republican advantage in its congressional delegation, credited DeSantis with helping set the stage:
“We had a great outcome, right? And I think the 1.5 million-vote registration advantage that Gov. DeSantis took four years to build was actually the firewall that prevented Florida from going down the same path as Texas or Michigan,” Suarez told FOX Business’ “Big Money in the Morning” on Wednesday.
“Republicans need to simplify their message. They need to be message discipline like Democrats were in this cycle. And then they got to find young, articulate, attractive candidates like the Democrats have found.”
Speaking with “Straight Shooter” host Stephen A. Smith on Election Night, DeSantis similarly argued that voters supported conservative policies on some ballot measures while rejecting Republican candidates, suggesting a disconnect between the party’s agenda and its appeal to voters.
Former senior Senate advisor and political strategist Mary Marslender told Fox News Digital that DeSantis is doing what any successful governor would in this scenario.
“He’s taking a victory lap on a winning record. That doesn’t means he’s distancing himself from Trump or the MAGA movement. DeSantis successfully focused on state-level results: tax relief, public safety and electoral success, all while underscoring Florida’s position as a reliable conservative stronghold,” Marslender said.
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“If congressional members in Washington could have done the same, we would have seen a very different outcome these midterms. We should expect to hear more from DeSantis on Florida’s proven results and his approach to governance in the run up to 2028.”
For DeSantis, who will leave office in January after his unsuccessful 2024 presidential bid, the question is whether Florida’s success will remain a state-level victory lap or become the foundation for a renewed national political role ahead of 2028.