Florida Republicans Cut Democrats’ Statewide Ballot Lead by 279k in One Week

Florida Republicans are continuing to outpace Democrats in early voting in the Sunshine State, reducing the Democrats’ overall advantage by over 279,000 votes in the last week.

As of Thursday morning, nearly 7.4 million voters in Florida had cast their ballots — whether by mail or via early voting. According to data from the Florida Division of Elections, Democrats comprise nearly 3 million of those votes, while Republicans represent about 2.8 million. A closer look at the numbers shows Democrats continuing to hold a significant advantage in vote by mail, casting 1,947,545 ballots to the GOP’s 1,316,109.

However, Republicans have continued to gain on the Democrats’ overall lead by consistently outpacing Democrats in early in-person voting. As of Thursday morning, 1,467,992 Republicans had voted early to the Democrats’ 1,043,470.

Last week, on October 21, Democrats held a 486,797 overall advantage in total ballots cast. Republicans narrowed that gap to 206,914 just over a week later.

A Thursday morning update from the U.S. Elections Project showed that over 78 million people nationwide have already cast their ballots in one form or another. The number represents 57 percent of the total votes counted in the 2016 election. Florida’s percentage is even higher. According to the U.S. Elections Project, the current number of ballots cast in the Sunshine State represents 77 percent of total votes cast in 2016.

Trump won Florida four years ago by less than 113,000 votes.

The president is hitting the campaign trail in the battleground state again on Thursday, holding a rally in Tampa before heading to Fayetteville, North Carolina.