Americans are ready for Ron.
Ron DeSantis is clearly America’s top Governor, and Florida voters proved it again on Election Day.
Days removed from the 2022 Midterms, the lesson all Americans can take away is this: The people of Florida overwhelmingly supported DeSantis. His pro-freedom agenda is popular up and down the state, regardless of color and creed. Indeed, freedom is the creed in Florida, with DeSantis routinely limiting the scope of Big Government as our leader — before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeSantis’ dominance in Florida cannot be overstated, especially among Hispanics like me. Florida’s Governor won Miami-Dade County — where I live — by the largest margin of any Republican candidate in at least the past 40 years. He defeated Democrat Charlie Crist with more than 55% of the vote in the county, including nearly two-thirds of the vote in majority-Hispanic precincts. Among Cubans, DeSantis beat Crist by a stunning 37 points.
Except it’s not really that stunning.
DeSantis has much more in common with Florida Hispanics than left-wing Democrats who push “woke” politics. From the “Critical Race Theory” indoctrination in schools to the absurd usage of the word “Latinx,” today’s Democrats are simply out of touch with hardworking Hispanics who want to live the American Dream and be left alone by government bureaucrats. People from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela understand the pitfalls of an overbearing, unrestrained government all too well, and they don’t want Democrats recreating their socialist and communist nightmares in the United States.
Whether it was this generation or those before, these Americans fled to a better life, true freedom and real opportunity here — not to see “here” become the very place they fled from. Our families came here to live in states like Florida, where mandates and restrictions take a back seat to business expansion, job creation and economic growth. We came here for prosperity, and we came to be governed by leaders like DeSantis, who share our values and work to make prosperity a reality.
Democrats may peddle identity politics to curry favor with Hispanics, but they are out of touch with reality. Look at it this way: Only 3% of Hispanics prefer the term Latinx, which even liberal academics concede is unpopular and yet high-profile Democrats like President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris use it all the time. The Democratic Party is so blinded by its woke ideology that the actual concerns and priorities of the Hispanic voting bloc matter not.
The Left’s loss can be the Republicans’ gain if DeSantis’ freedom platform goes national.
In the 2022 Midterms, America’s top Governor laid out the path to victory with the Hispanic vote, focusing on pocketbook issues, rejecting identity politics, and continuing to govern his state throughout the electoral cycle. Even as political headlines dominated the news cycle, DeSantis never turned his attention from the job at hand — continuing the recovery from devastating Hurricane Ian and preparing Floridians for Hurricane Nicole.
People have taken note of that leadership. Competence and professionalism shine through. And they will keep shining through in the years to come.
Leading up to 2024, the only viable path for Republicans to win back the White House begins and ends with DeSantis. His recent victory in Florida can and should be a launchpad for a national campaign focused on the same bread-and-butter issues, winning voters who truly love America and believe in economic prosperity.
No other Republican candidate is on DeSantis’ level. No one can compete with the man who turned Florida red and became America’s most popular Governor in recent memory. In 2022, Democrats still won Hispanic voters by a more than 20-point margin across America, but not in the Sunshine State. DeSantis bucked that trend and then some. If any Republican can reverse that trend nationally, it’s DeSantis.
Now it’s time for the Republican Party to read the writing on Florida’s wall. DeSantis is not only a winner here, but he will also be the winner in 2024. In Florida and everywhere else, American voters like me — and so many others — are Ready for Ron.
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Gabriel Llanes is executive director for Ready for Ron, the only credible organization working to draft and elect Ron DeSantis as President in 2024. He is based in Miami.
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