Politics
Ron DeSantis questions GOP down-ballot appeal after Tennessee Special Election
‘Trump-specific voters’ are hard to mobilize.
This may be something to watch during next year’s Midterm Elections.
Gov. Ron DeSantis sees a difference between voters who supported Donald Trump in 2024 and the electorate at large, making fresh observations after a Special Election that saw a Republican Congressman-elect underperform the President.
DeSantis argues that “a chunk of voters who put them in power in 2024 are Trump-specific voters; they will vote GOP down ballot when Trump is running but won’t turn out to vote for a typical congressman in a midterm when Trump isn’t running.”
Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn by roughly 9 points in a Nashville area seat Tuesday, less than half the margin by which Trump bested Kamala Harris in 2024.
The Governor attributes some of the attrition to voter motivation for opposition candidates.
“Special, off-year, and midterm elections historically benefit the party out of power because its voters are motivated to vote, while voters of the incumbent party become more complacent,” he said.
DeSantis wasn’t quite so dispassionate earlier this year when a recent nemesis of his, U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, underperformed Trump in a Special Election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District.
While Fine won by 14 points, DeSantis said Trump “really had to bail him out at the end because this race would have been much closer had the President sat on the sidelines.”
He also said the outcome shows Trump has “got the juice to be able to get Republicans to go out on Election Day and even vote for a candidate that they’re not crazy about.”
Trump did a tele-rally for Van Epps, which perhaps helped to shore up GOP votes.
DeSantis is an advocate of congressional redistricting. He argues that Florida deserves more seats because of in-migration in recent years. He says he wants a Special Session in 2026 to address that perceived inequity.
The House is also looking at drawing new maps.
Florida has 20 Republicans and 8 Democrats. DeSantis has credited the maps he pushed through ahead of the 2022 elections for providing the slim GOP majority in the House of Representatives.