The radical left “was just a few votes shy of taking control of Florida,” the state’s first lady Casey DeSantis said on Monday, reminding voters what is at stake this election.
“Four years ago…the far Left was just a few votes shy of taking control of Florida. We cannot take our freedoms for granted. … Make a plan to vote @RonDeSantisFL and help us show the world that freedom is here to stay,” she said, sharing a video which asked, “What if things had gone differently?”
“What if people’s jobs were lost not saved? What if students couldn’t learn, because no one stood up for them? What if you called for help and no one answered? Only a few thousand votes made a difference four years ago, between a state living in fear and a state fighting for freedom,” the narrator said, urging Floridians to show that freedom is “here to stay.”
Indeed, things could have gone very differently in the Sunshine State if Democrat Andrew Gillum had secured a victory four years ago. DeSantis narrowly defeated the Democrat by just under 32,500 votes — a difference of less than half a percentage point.
DeSantis discussed this during a rally in Coral Springs, Florida, last month, telling supporters that things “could have gone the other way,” resulting in “a much different future” for the state.
“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,” DeSantis added.
Republicans do not expect this race to be as close, given that DeSantis has led Democrat Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) consistently throughout the race. Tuesday’s RealClearPolitics (RCP) average of polls showed DeSantis leading Crist by 12.1 percent. Meanwhile, Crist has continued his attempts to cast DeSantis as an anti-freedom villain, deeming him the “most dangerous and extreme candidate”: