All Networks Call Ron DeSantis Victory the Second the Florida Polls Close: ‘Major, Major Win’
The major networks didn’t hesitate in calling the Florida gubernatorial contest for incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over challenger former governor/former Republican Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL).
The westernmost part of the state is in the Central Time Zone, and polls were open until 7:00 pm CT/8:00 pm ET, and the call for DeSantis came immediately thereafter.
A large part of the reason for the quick call was because Florida allows mail-in ballots to be opened, processed, and counted before Election Day, as Gary Fineout, a longtime Florida reporter with Politico, pointed out on Twitter earlier Tuesday:
With the mail-in ballots counted, and the majority of the state’s polls closing at 7 pm and able to begin county
Right after 8 pm, CNN called the race for DeSantis, with reporter Boris Sanchez telling Jake Tapper it was “a major, major win for Republicans,” with DeSantis winning re-election “by a considerable margin” — at that point up by nearly 16 percentage points.
“That’s notable,” added Sanchez, “because Donald Trump won Florida in 2020 by only 3.5 points,” especially with so much speculation about DeSantis running for president in 2024.
MSNBC and Fox News also called the race for DeSantis immediately after 8 pm ET.
DeSantis was heavily favored to win, leading Crist by double digits in the polls throughout the general election campaign, and absolutely clobbering the Democrat in fundraising, both in terms of direct donations and outside PAC spending.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
