DeSantis and Rubio Lead Their Democrat Challengers Weeks Ahead of the Election

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., waves to supporters after speaking at the Conservative Political
Joe Raedle/Getty Images, AP Photo/John Raoux
Hannah Knudsen

Both Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) continue to lead their Democrat challengers weeks ahead of the midterm election, Saturday’s RealClearPolitics (RCP) averages show.

The election is swiftly approaching as Democrats hope to make significant gains in the Sunshine State. They hope to flip Florida blue in the gubernatorial race after years of DeSantis’s leadership. The governor has made national headlines over the past two years after standing up to mask and vaccine mandates and instead following the science, as well as prioritizing parental rights in education. But all of those controversies have been set aside over the last two weeks following Hurricane Ian’s landfall on the west coast of Florida. And despite leftist hopes of DeSantis botching the response, that has been anything but the case.

Saturday’s RCP average shows DeSantis continuing to lead his challenger, Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), in the race by an average of 7.8 percentage points.

 

Yet Crist has still tried to focus on hurricane response, to no avail. His attack angle has been, in recent days, accusing DeSantis of being in the “pockets of big insurance companies.” He is also making abortion a day one agenda item with another ad on the topic posted Tuesday.

All the while, Democrats also hope to maintain their extremely slim majority in the Senate, and Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) defeating Rubio is one avenue toward that goal. She, too, has largely focused on the issue of abortion throughout the race and famously refused to say when, exactly, abortion should be banned. She has also expressed outrage at Rubio for questioning her record of service, as she served as a former police chief. Despite that, it is Rubio who has received a barrage of endorsements from law enforcement groups in the state.

As of Saturday, RCP’s average showed Rubio leading his challenger by 4.7 percentage points:

 

Democrats in Florida certainly have an uphill battle, as the state has experienced a wave of new voters registering as Republicans. Further, Republicans now outnumber Democrats in the state — a feat achieved under DeSantis’s leadership:

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