President Donald Trump is projected to win the state of Florida and its gold mine of 29 electoral votes.
The Sunshine State is key for each candidate on their journey to 270 – the number of electoral votes necessary to win the presidency. Twenty-nine going into Trump’s column might ultimately be the catalyst toward helping push him over the edge.
Trump’s win in Florida will come as a relief to the president’s campaign and supporters. According to FiveThirtyEight’s most recent polling average, the race between him and Biden had tightened during the past few weeks. Several polls showing Biden or Trump ahead in Florida typically were within the margin of error or had either candidate with only the slightest of leads.
Such never guaranteed a win for anyone but it, perhaps, indicated support for the president remained strong. Polling also showed Trump in a sort of stronger standing with Hispanic voters – a vital voting bloc in the state – compared to the previous election cycle, something Democrats have grown weary of lately.
Republican supporters also were able to dig into Democrats’ early lead when it came to those who voted by mail or opted to drop off a mail-in ballot. Once early in-person voting began in Florida, the big advantage Democrats held onto faded.
By Sunday, Nov. 1, Democrats held a lead by only 94,000 ballots – down from at least 450,000 ballots prior to the start of early in-person voting, according to the U.S. Elections Project.
Florida is a state vital to Trump’s reelection chances, and it has become more important for him throughout his presidency. About a month on the job, back in 2017, he officially launched his reelection campaign during a rally with about 9,000 people in Melbourne.
And it was a little over a year ago he disowned his New York state residency and switched to a permanent Florida address in Palm Beach – that being his Mar-a-Lago Club.
“I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few have been treated worse,” Trump said at the time. For his part, Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted, “Good riddance. It’s not like @realDonaldTrump paid taxes here anyway...,” to which Trump disputed in a clap-back tweet of his own.
Trump always had some sort of solace in the Florida Governor’s Mansion, too, and it went both ways: Gov. Ron DeSantis was propelled, in part, from Congress to Tallahassee with the president’s endorsement and once opted not to name a single issue on which he disagreed with Trump. The two leaders since kept up a working relationship of sorts, more recently through efforts to secure the drug remdesivir for Florida hospitals treating coronavirus patients and maneuvering a way to get cruise ships sailing again.
The president last carried Florida and its 29 electoral votes in 2016 by a slim 48.6-47.4 margin.
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