Democrats are ringing alarm bells after Republicans took the lead Wednesday morning in traditionally blue Miami-Dade County in early and mail-in votes. One day after Joe Biden visited South Florida to campaign for Democrats, turnout figures from The Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections showed Republican [voter I.D.] leading Dems by eleven votes.
🚨#BREAKING: In a historic move, Republicans have taken the lead in Miami-Dade County early + mail-in voting over Democrats
🔴 118,889 Republicans
🔵 118,878 Democrats
⚪️ 66,757 Independents— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) November 2, 2022
By 11:20 EST, however, Democrats were back to a .09 percent lead as mail-in ballots continued to be counted, according to Florida’s Voice.
With more than 1.5 million registered voters, Miami-Dade is the most populous county in Florida, and it has historically been a Democrat stronghold, along with Broward and Palm Beach counties, noted public news outlet WUFT. “Less than one week before the election, Miami-Dade was looking more red than blue,” WUFT added. The county is nearly 72 percent Hispanic, a demographic that has dramatically swung to the right in recent months.
“This is not what we expected,” said Christine Alexandria Olivio, the Democratic House candidate in Florida’s 26th Congressional District in South Florida. “This is worse than what we expected. We’re getting our butts kicked right now.”
Olivio is running against Republican Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, “the longest-serving member of Congress in Florida,” according to WUFT.
Registered Democrats still outnumbered Republicans in Miami-Dade, but the latest figures indicated Democrats – at least so far – were voting in far fewer numbers than their GOP counterparts.
The swing toward higher Republican turnout in the county – with just one week before the election – was widely interpreted as a sign of support among the area’s Hispanic voters for incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis – and a lack of enthusiasm for his Democratic challenger, Rep. Charlie Crist.
During his campaign stops in South Florida on Tuesday, Biden attempted to demonize Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by comparing him to former president Donald Trump, who is wildly popular with Hispanics in Florida.
“Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate,” Biden said to roughly 70 people at a fundraising event for Crist. “It’s really important for a state the size of Florida and the consequence of Florida – it gets on the right side of history again,” Biden added.
More than 487,000 voters in Miami-Dade are not affiliated with either party, and so far, that group has not been turning out for Democrats.
“We’re not drawing out our own base,” Olivio told WUFT. “Democrats know the message. So, why are they not turning out?”
DeSantis could become the first Republican governor to win in Miami-Dade since Jeb Bush in 2002. Only Broward County has more registered Democrats in Florida. Political polls in recent weeks have consistently shown DeSantis ahead of Crist statewide by double digits.
The governor’s contest was among the marquee races this year drawing the most interest among Florida voters. The state’s senior U.S. senator, Marco Rubio, also is facing re-election to try for a third term against his Democratic challenger, Rep. Val Demings.
The county-by-county turnout figures – updated every 15 minutes – were compiled by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Last week, in another unusual milestone in Florida, Republicans statewide cast more ballots overall during early, in-person voting and by absentee voting than Democrats. On Wednesday, Republicans remained ahead by more than 182,000 votes statewide.
Alina Garcia, a Republican candidate for a state House seat in Miami, explained that the GOP is doing well in Florida because people are sick of the left’s “nonsense.”
“The average citizen has woken up and has had enough of this nonsense,” Garcia wrote in an email tp WUFT. “That’s why you’re going to see Republicans outperform Democrats in such high numbers. That’s why you’ll see our proactive and highly effective governor get re-elected and, quite frankly, possibly win in Miami-Dade County.”
Gov. DeSantis, meanwhile, had some fun at Biden’s expense Tuesday night on Fox News’ Hannity, calling his trip to Florida “an in-kind contribution to my campaign.”
“I just want to make the offer public: we will underwrite him to stay in Florida for the rest of the campaign,” the governor said.
.@RonDeSantisFL 🔥 response to Biden campaigning for @charliecrist in Florida today:
“I think it's an in-kind contribution to my campaign. I just want to make the offer public: we will underwrite him to stay in Florida for the rest of the campaign.” 👀👀 pic.twitter.com/O8Mmdyuz6J— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 2, 2022
Update:
UPDATE: REPs have regained traction, DEM lead back down to just 15 votes https://t.co/iUJT1eS0XU
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) November 2, 2022
Republicans statewide now have a 200,000 early voter I.D. advantage over Democrats in the election, according to Florida’s Voice.
JUST IN: Florida Republicans have surpassed a 200,000 vote advantage over Democrats in the 2022 election
🔴1,508,283 Republicans
🔵1,306,865 DemocratsMIAMI-DADE SWING ALERT:
🚨 After mail-in influx, DEM lead at just 15 votes, REPs set to take the lead again— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) November 2, 2022