MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panel crowned Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis the new Republican Party leader on Wednesday, ridiculing former President Donald Trump in the process after an election night filled with Republican setbacks.
DeSantis defeated former Republican Gov. and Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist by over 20 points, receiving 59.4% of the vote to Crist’s 40%.
DeSantis also became the first gubernatorial candidate since 2002 to win the reliably blue Miami-Dade county.
“Hey, Donald Trump, meet Boris Johnson. There was a coronation last night, probably as grand as King Charles III’s coronation going to be in the spring, and it was Ron DeSantis in Florida!” co-host Joe Scarborough said.
“Unfortunately, Donald Trump lost the rest of America. Now, I’m not going to say this is the end of Donald Trump, but there are a lot of Republicans this morning waking up, going, ‘wait a second, Ron DeSantis is winning Miami-Dade outright and winning 20 percentage points in the state historically, well, Donald Trump is tweeting, cheering against Republicans.’” He continued.
Despite forecasts of a red wave, Republicans consistently underperformed throughout the country, with Trump-backed nominees losing or behind in key states.
The notable exception to this general trend being in Florida were DeSantis lead the party to consistent and immense gains.
Throughout the midterm elections, Trump backed over 400 candidates, making his presence felt in battleground states such as Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.
Despite Trump’s high-profile support, Pennsylvania elected a Democratic governor and a Democratic senator, while Arizona is still undecided.
On Wednesday morning, Kari Lake, the Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate, was behind Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the vote tally while the contest between Raphael Warnock and and Herschel Walker is now heading for a run off election later this year after neither candidate was able to garner more than 50 percent of the vote.
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