In 2018, Ron DeSantis won by 32,463 votes, requiring a recount. Four years later, Florida’s Republican governor rode a tidal wave to a 20-point lead (59.3% of the vote to 88% of the votes counted) over his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist. From 2007 to 2011. He can now claim the Republican nomination for the White House.

The Associated Press announced his victory just before 9 a.m., unheard of in this former rock-solid state that narrowly edged George W. Bush in 2000. For the first time, Republicans had more voters than Democrats.

The victory is general: Even Miami-Dade County, which gave Hillary Clinton a 29-point lead over Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, threw itself for its Republican governor, while Latinos gave him more than 56% of the vote. According to a CBS poll. In his victory speech, Mr “Redrawing the Political Map”. Florida Republican Marco Rubio was re-elected to a third term in the Senate, securing Republican control of Florida.

A strained relationship with Donald Trump

At 44, Ron DeSantis appears to have confirmed his national stature — he’s currently the only credible alternative to Donald Trump within the Republican Party. Relations between the two have soured recently. They did not campaign together, and Trump viciously mocked his former protégé by calling him A “Ron de Sanctimonius [Ron-la-Morale] ». Trump could jumpstart his candidacy by announcing it next week from the Mar-a-Lago golf course in Palm Beach to cut down on favoritism for the Florida governor.

Ron DeSantis, however, is one of the “Trump babies,” but he has taken on a more dignified profile that appeals to Republicans outraged by the ex-president’s outrageous behavior. Born in Florida to a television installer and a nurse, this Catholic studied history at the prestigious Yale University (Connecticut) where he became the captain of baseball. He studied law at Harvard (Massachusetts) and joined the Navy in 2004. As an adviser to Navy SEALs Special Forces, he was deployed to Iraq, where a photo shows him in combat gear in front of a tank.

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