Republicans are still picking up the pieces from the Party’s disappointing underperformance in the Midterm elections.
While Democrats held on to power in the Senate, Republicans managed to back the majority in the House.
But Nancy Pelosi would still be House Speaker if not for one bold decision Ron DeSantis made earlier this year.
After a week of counting votes, Republicans have officially won a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.
Not only will Nancy Pelosi no longer hold the Speaker’s Gavel, but she also announced on Thursday that she was stepping aside and would not seek re-election as House Minority Leader.
Chuck Schumer will continue to rule over the U.S. Senate and Republicans are expected to elect Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as the Speaker of the House in the new Congress.
Even though the GOP managed to squeak out a majority in the House, Republicans are pointing fingers and looking for answers as to why the Party massively underperformed expectations.
The one bright spot of the Midterm elections was in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis ran up the scoreboard with a nearly 20-point victory that turned the Sunshine State solid red.
DeSantis’ landslide victory in an election where Republicans underperformed elsewhere catapulted him to the top of the field for the 2024 GOP race.
But Republicans owe DeSantis more than just turning a critical swing state into a solid red state.
They also owe their House majority to his courage and bold leadership as Governor.
Democrats tried to game the system by manipulating the once-a-decade redistricting process this year to create new Democrat-leaning seats to help give them more cushion in the Midterm elections.
Ron DeSantis refused to sign the map drawn up by the Florida legislature due to unconstitutional gerrymandering.
The map put forward by the legislature would have resulted in 11 Democrat-leaning districts and 19 Republican-leaning districts.
The media smeared DeSantis and Democrats tried to convince a judge to rule against the new map.
But DeSantis pushed back against fierce opposition and the final map ended up with 20 Republican districts, eight Democrat districts, and one swing district.
And Florida gained four additional House seats in the Midterm elections thanks to DeSantis fighting for a fair and accurate map, which could account for the difference between being in the minority and holding the majority.
“Without Ron DeSantis informing the Florida legislature he intended to veto the Congressional map they passed and submitting his own map creating four more Republican seats, Nancy Pelosi would be settling in for another term as Speaker,” Brian Ballard, a longtime lobbyist in Florida and a major Republican donor said. “Republicans across the country should thank Governor DeSantis for the majority we have in the House.”
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
