DeSantis on GOP pummeling: ‘Close to an extinction-level event for Republicans’

Outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called the wave of GOP losses in Tuesday’s midterm election “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans.”

“This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last 100 years, ” he said during a Wednesday press conference .

“In January, when everyone in office leaves who are either term-limited or got voted out, of the 10 largest states in this union, only one state will have Republican control … the state of Florida.”

Republicans narrowly hung on to Florida on Election Day, retaining seats in the Senate and the governor’s mansion by close margins, though Democrats still won some redistricted House seats meant to favor GOP candidates.

“Let’s just be clear that that is going to hurt. Not just for the next two years, that’s something that can reverberate for the next decade or more,” DeSantis said.

He then pointed to his party’s historic losses in Texas, which he called the “crown jewel of Republican politics,” both up and down ballot. He noted that without the Lone Star State, the GOP is “not going to be viable nationally going forward.”

Last night, Democrat James Talarico became the first member of his party to win a Texas Senate seat in decades, defeating state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) also took a stunning loss to Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa.

Democrats also won big in other Republican strongholds like Iowa and Kansas.

“We knew it could be worse, but I don’t think most of us thought it would be quite this bad,” the outgoing Florida governor added. “This was a rejection of Republicans in Washington, and Democrats just happened to be the beneficiary. Now it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to rebuild.”

In a lengthy Wednesday morning post to the social platform X, Vice President Vance cited four reasons voters chose to not vote for the GOP: the war in Iran, living costs, not putting “America First” and the U.S.’s relationship with Israel.

“Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats,” Vance wrote.