‘Unthinkable:’ Gov. Ron DeSantis predicts major red shift in this Florida county

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The midterm elections are only a few months away, and Gov. Ron DeSantis is already predicting a major shift in one Florida county.

DeSantis shared his election forecast on Tuesday evening via X, where he replied to another user who discussed a major “collapse” in the Democrats’ advantage in Palm Beach County.

“Palm Beach County went red on election night in 2022 for the first time in decades,” DeSantis wrote. “It will soon see registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats — something that would have been unthinkable for a county that was such a blue bastion for so long."

As of Tuesday, Palm Beach County listed over 869,000 active registered voters on its supervisor of elections website. They broke down as follows:

• 307,700 Democrats (35.4%)
• 295,138 Republicans (34.0%)
• 233,600 No Party Affiliation (26.9%)
• 32,852 Minor Parties (3.8%)

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While Democrats certainly still outnumber Republicans in Palm Beach County, it shows a drastic shift from just 10 years ago in March 2016.

At that time, state archives show that Palm Beach County only had around 243,000 Republicans, compared to over 364,000 Democrats.

As such, the difference between the two parties’ active registered voters in the area fell from over 120,000 to roughly 12,500. That’s a nearly 90% drop.

DeSantis pointed out that this escalation fits in with a similar trend at the state level, where a growing number of voters are registered as Republicans now, as compared to 10 years ago, when Democrats had a much higher registration count.

That said, statewide registration numbers for Republicans have fallen since 2024, though the figures for Democrats have fallen much further, data shows.

“Predictions about Florida turning blue were very common amongst the chattering class last decade,” DeSantis continued. “The result has been the most dramatic partisan registration shift in modern American history — but in the other direction than what people predicted!"

Regardless, Election Day for the midterms is slated for Nov. 3 this year, with voter registration deadlines kicking in about a month before on Oct. 5.

In the meantime, you can check out News 6’s full guide to election myths and misinformation by clicking here.

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