Florida Republicans take lead in early voting against Democrats

Florida Republicans has taken a lead in early voting against Democrats, according to new data released Thursday.

Fresh Take Florida, a news service in the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, announced that 2.19 million votes had been cast as of Oct. 27 in the state’s early voting.

901,218 registered GOP voters had cast ballots compared to 874,439 cast by Democrats – an edge of 26,866 ballots. Independent and voters affiliated with third parties cast the remaining 414,972 ballots.

Republicans had been down about 45,000 ballots cast at the beginning of the week.

“If that trend continues, we can expect the GOP to run up the score to a near 200,000-voter surplus ahead of Election Day,” said Fresh Take Florida in a follow-up tweet.

More Republicans are registered in the state than Democrats – 36% to 34%, according to The Hill citing Florida’s Division of Elections.

The news service said that, if the midterm elections were held tomorrow and the current early voting figures were applied, 53% of partisan voters would be Republican.

“48% of partisan voters from Miami-Dade County would be Republicans,” they added in another tweet. The heavily Democratic area has not voted for a GOP governor since Jeb Bush in 2022.

Both of the major midterm races in Florida are breaking heavily toward the Republican incumbents.

Popular Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a 10-point edge over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist,  according to the RealClearPolitics’ polling average.

Polls have also shown Sen. Marco Rubio with a steady advantage over his opponent, Democratic Rep. Val Demings. A recent poll by left-wing pollster Data for Progress showed the incumbent senator with a 7-point edge over his rival.