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Outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that the Republican losses in the midterm elections are "close to an extinction-level event" for the party "in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last 100 years."
DeSantis spoke after Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate on Election Day. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida House Republican, won the contest for DeSantis' seat despite other GOP candidates losing their gubernatorial races around the U.S.
"Here's the thing. Democrats are unpopular. They were able to win based off the sentiment that exists in the country right now. They did not earn a mandate to indulge all their left-wing fantasies. And they're going to be in there governing, and we'll see what ends up happening," DeSantis said.
"But this was not a positive view of the Democrats. This was a rejection of Republicans in Washington," he added. "And Democrats just happened to be the beneficiary."
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DeSantis, who has not ruled out a 2028 presidential bid, said, "In January, when everyone in office leaves, who were either term-limited or got voted out of the ten largest states in this union, only one state will have Republican control of their state, the state of Florida.
"Last night we witnessed — to call it a wave, I don't think would be fully accurate — it's the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States. Blue states, red states, everything in between," DeSantis said. "And the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida.
"If you look at our chief rival, in a healthy sense, the state of Texas, and I would say over my lifetime, Texas has been the crown jewel of Republican politics. I think we've been the leader for Republicans and conservatives since I've been governor. But if you go over the whole generation, no one holds a candle on the Republican side to the Lone Star State. And yet, not only did they lose a very highly publicized U.S. Senate race, they lost everything," DeSantis continued.
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"The governor, attorney general, all the other statewide. They lost four Republican Supreme Court justices on the Texas Supreme Court. They may even lose the Texas Legislature or one house or even both. Let's just be clear that that is going to hurt, not just for the next two years. That's something that can reverberate for the next decade or more," he also said. "And if the Republican Party doesn't have Texas as an anchor, then we are not going to be viable nationally going forward."
DeSantis predicted that in the 2028 election cycle, "You are not, as Republicans, going to be able to retake the Senate under this current map just two years from now.
"And with all the House seats that have been done, probably not viable to take that back as well. So this is really going to have an impact," DeSantis added. "Two years, four years, six years, maybe even longer before Republicans could exercise unified control in Washington again like we've enjoyed over the last two years."
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