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Trump’s victory was not the only Republican win in The Sunshine State.
After Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Florida – Trump’s official residence – is no longer considered a swing state.
The former Republican president won the state with a margin of victory of more than 13 percentage points, the Associated Press reported. This is a margin that no other presidential candidate has won by in 36 years.
Experts, officials and analysts believe that a decisive factor in the Republican’s victory is the hard swing to the right among Hispanics in Florida.
RELATED: Trump wins the White House
Trump won Miami-Dade County, traditionally considered a blue county, with more than 55% of the vote. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won with 63% of voters, and in 2020, President Joe Biden won 53% of the county. For her part, Harris won nearly 80% of the vote in Dade’s majority Black precincts.
Additionally, Trump won 75% share of the vote in Hialeah and more than 60% of the vote in Doral, both majority Hispanic cities.
Rick Scott keeps his seat in the Senate
In another of Florida’s most closely watched contests of the 2024 election, Sen. Rick Scott, the Republican incumbent from Florida, will keep his seat in the US Senate, the Associated Press projected on Tuesday night.
Scott won over his Democratic challenger, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, 55.7% – 42.6%, with 93% of the vote counted, according to the Associated Press.
Amendment 4 fails to pass despite getting 58% support
Amendment 4, the grassroots initiative to restore abortion rights in Florida, did not garner enough support from state voters to pass, receiving 58.4% of the vote with more than 95% of votes counted, according to Decision Desk HQ. The amendment needed at least 60% of the vote to pass.
The measure faced strong opposition from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who used tactics such as using taxpayer funds to run ads that opposed the amendment, threatening to sue local TV stations for airing pro-Amendment 4 ads, and sending law enforcement to the homes of people who signed the petition to put the measure on the ballot.
The citizen-led initiative would have nullified Florida’s current six-week abortion ban that DeSantis signed into law in April of last year, and permitted abortion to be legal before viability, which is usually understood to be around 24 weeks – or when necessary to protect a patient’s health – as determined by their healthcare provider.
Amendment 3 – Recreational Marijuana amendment fails to pass
Florida Amendment 3, which sought to legalize recreational weed for adults, failed to reach the 60% supermajority needed to pass. It received 55.7% of “yes” votes vs. 44.3% no votes, with an estimate of 89.7% votes counted.
The amendment would’ve allowed adults 21 years old and older to possess about 3 ounces of marijuana, and businesses already growing and selling marijuana to sell the drug.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried released a statement blaming the amendment’s failure on Gov. Ron DeSantis and his “illegal campaign” to sway Floridians to vote “no.”
“Using millions of dollars of opioid settlement money and breaking multiple statutes along the way, Ron used the full force of the state to lie to voters about the effects of cannabis legalization — from enlisting state agencies to produce illegal anti-cannabis propaganda to putting his own Chief of Staff in charge of the campaign effort,” Fried said in her statement.
House Seats won in Florida
In addition to voting in the presidential contest between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, voters in Florida also cast ballots for the state’s 28 congressional districts.
After the results were called, the balance in the state’s congressional delegation did not change, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. Republicans will continue to hold 20 of the state’s 28 seats.
Republicans who won or retained their seats include District 1’s Matt Gaetz, District 13’s Anna Paulina Luna, and District 27’s Maria Elvira Salazar, all Trump loyalists.
Democrats who won or retained their seats include District 9’s Darren Soto, District 10’s Maxwell Frost, and District 14’s Kathy Castor.
“I’m honored to have been re-elected to serve another term in the United States Congress,” Frost posted on X after his election was called. Frost is Florida’s first Gen-Z congressman.
RELATED: Amendment 4 fails, leaving Florida’s 6-week abortion ban in place
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