BREAKING: Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has conceded to Ron DeSantis. At 11 p.m. EST Gillum told supporters gathered for a campaign watch party in Tallahassee, “We didn’t win.” Gillum said he had called DeSantis to congratulate him.
The Florida governor race is trending to Republican candidate Ron DeSantis as results reach 99 percent of votes counted at 10:40 p.m. EST. DeSantis has maintained a steady slim lead over Democrat Andrew Gillum for the past two hours.
DeSantis resigned from Congress after winning the GOP primary a few months back, Gillum is the mayor of Tallahassee. Gillum became a progressive rising star with backing by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) while DeSantis was backed by President Donald Trump.
Henry Olsen, whose Twitter bio reads, “Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center and Editor of Flyover Country at http://UnHerd.com . Author, The Working Class Republican,” called the race for DeSantis at 9 p.m. EST:
“I’m calling Florida Governor for DeSantis. The latest Broward dump means there should be less than 100,000 votes total left and DeSantis’ lead should withstand that surge. It, too, will be very close, 50,000 votes either way.”
I'm calling Florida Governor for DeSantis. The latest Broward dump means there should be less than 100,000 votes total left and DeSantis' lead should withstand that surge. It, too, will be very close, 50,000 votes either way.
— Henry Olsen (@henryolsenEPPC) November 7, 2018
Chuck Todd on NBC noted Gillum underperformed Hillary Clinton by 4 points in Miami-Dade County, speculating that the characterization of Gillum as a “socialist” turned off voters.
Todd also expressed surprise that Gillum was underperforming Bill Nelson, the incumbent Democrat Senator who was also trailing in Tuesday’s election to Republican Gov. Rick Scott–but not by as much.
Todd noted that it looked DeSantis’ win would be outside the margin of 0.5% for an automatic recount, but that Scott might have to go through a recount.
With 99 percent of the vote in at 10:40 p.m. EST, DeSantis led Gillum by about 91,000 votes, 4,007,243 to 3,926,640.
Scott had a lead of about 60,000 over Nelson, 4,031,033 to 3,971,373.
Breaking update: Olsen calls Senate for Scott, I’m calling Florida Senate for Rick Scott. Not enough votes left in Broward, Miami and Palm Beach to gain 76,000 votes. That’s the second GOP Senate gain and eliminated the possibility of Democratic Senate control.”
I'm calling Florida Senate for Rick Scott. Not enough votes left in Broward, Miami and Palm Beach to gain 76,000 votes. That's the second GOP Senate gain and eliminated the possibility of Democratic Senate control.
— Henry Olsen (@henryolsenEPPC) November 7, 2018
DeSantis’ campaign chair Susie Wiles was reported to be fuming that the Associated Press is not calling the race for DeSantis.
.@susie57, the Ron DeSantis campaign chair, calling it.
“Statistical improbability” that Gillum comes back given “votes that are still out there”
She adds her annoyance that @AP has not called it yet.
“Where is AP?” https://t.co/lRyyOrIET6
— Matt Dixon (@Mdixon55) November 7, 2018
Featured Image source:
Former GOP U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis hopes to ride President Donald Trump's backing to victory in the Florida governor's race, while Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum sought to energize his party's voters. https://t.co/wgmypmpOkP pic.twitter.com/yCWubD1xFP
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) November 7, 2018
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