Republicans Edging Out Democrats in Early Voting in Blue Miami-Dade

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis smiles during a press conference, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, in M
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Hannah Knudsen

Republicans are edging out Democrats in early voting and mail-in voting in Florida’s blue Miami-Dade County, early figures show.

All indicators pointed to Democrats having quite an uphill battle in the Sunshine State this year, particularly following Republicans overtaking Democrats in voter registration for the first time ever roughly one year ago, only expanding their lead statewide under Gov. Ron DeSantis’s leadership.

“When I was standing here four years ago, preparing for the governor’s election, this state had almost 300,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. And we had never in the history of Florida — prior to me being elected governor — had more registered Republicans and Democrats,” DeSantis said during a speech in Coral Springs, Florida, last month.

“And even though we’ve never had an election in Florida history [where] we’ve had more Republicans than Democrats, this November, we will now have over 300,000 more Republicans than Democrats,” he continued, noting “massive gains in Miami-Dade” as well.

While Miami-Dade has seen an uptick of Hispanic voters registering as Republican — Hispanic Republican voters outnumber Hispanic Democrat voters in the county — early voting figures spell even more trouble for Democrats.

According to recent figures, Republicans have overtaken Democrats in the historically blue county in early voting and mail-in voting figures:

A morning update of the data, shared by Florida’s Voice, also showed Republicans outnumbering Democrats in early voting statewide, 1,457,761 to the Democrats’ 1,270,921. 

During DeSantis’s speech in Coral Springs, he reminded the audience that they cannot take their freedom in the state for granted, reminding them of how everything could have been much different for the Sunshine State over the last two years, had DeSantis not defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than half of a percentage point. 

“Do not take any of this for granted. Okay. Freedom is very fragile. As we’ve seen, we just lived through an era where there were states in this country forcibly shuttering churches while they allowed liquor stores and strip clubs to operate,” he added.

Wednesday’s RealClearPolitics (RCP) average showed DeSantis leading Crist by an average of 12.3 percent.

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