Florida GOP registration edge crosses 900,000-voter mark

Elephant and Donkey Mascots Silhouettes
Republicans now account for 39% of the state’s voters, compared to 32% for Democrats.

Florida’s red hue continues to deepen.

The state’s Division of Elections just updated its tally of active voters, and it’s more bad news for Democrats.

As of April 30, Republicans had 906,551 more registered voters than Democrats in the Sunshine State.

It’s the GOP’s biggest lead since it overtook Democrats for the first time in November 2021.

Of Florida’s 13.47 million active voters, 5.24 million were registered with the Republican Party of Florida compared to 4.34 million registered as Florida Democratic Party members.

Another 3.53 million had no party affiliation, while 352,027 belonged to minor parties.

Republicans gained 105,317 voters since New Year’s Eve. Democrats lost 21,533 members over the same stretch. That included 3,866 additional GOP voters and 10,651 fewer Democratic voters since March 31.

Democrats’ share of the voter rolls fell from 38% in 2016 and 33% six months ago to 32% by the end of April.

Republicans, meanwhile, held a 39% share going into May, up from 38.5% in late December and 35% in 2016.

Florida’s shifting voter base is partly attributable to an influx of transplants. Between March 2020 and January 2023, an estimated 394,000 active voters flocked to the state. Of those, 46% were Republicans, 23% were Democrats and 29% were independents.

Image via Florida Division of Elections.

“Florida’s statewide registration numbers continue to show the exodus of voters from the Democratic Party as they embrace (former) President (Donald) Trump and the Republican Party and our policies of economic freedom and opportunity,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera, a GOP State Committeeman, told Florida Politics.

“In general, starting with President Trump and continuing with Gov. (Ron) DeSantis and the Florida Legislature, their policies are driving voters — including Hispanics, the fastest-growing group in Florida and the United States — to flee the Democratic Party and register as Republicans.”

Between December 2022 and December 2023, more than 1.18 million voters were dropped from Florida’s active voter rolls. Democrats and no-party voters accounted for 90% of them.

The Florida Democratic Party has suggested that backhanded GOP tactics are much to blame.

Chair Nikki Fried urged members this month to check their status after former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, a Democrat running for Florida’s 27th Congressional District, revealed that the state had improperly removed him in October from its list of active voters.

The Miami-Dade Elections Department said the error was due to a mistake with his longtime address. Fried said it was the result of election laws the GOP-dominant Legislature passed in 2022 and 2023 to stifle voter registration and voter fraud, which critics decried as veiled attempts to suppress progressive votes.

“For years, Republicans have been wiping Democrats from the voter rolls to inflate their voter registration advantage,” she said. “(Now they’ve) been caught in the act.”

Republicans have also worked to keep voters from having their registration errantly switched or deactivated. This year, lawmakers unanimously passed a bill by Reps. Peggy Gossett Seidman of Highland Beach and Mike Caruso of Delray Beach — both Republicans — to address a DMV “glitch” that switched an untold number of voters in the past seven to eight years to no party affiliation.

DeSantis signed the measure last month.

To turn Florida’s red tide blue again, Democratic leaders across the state must prioritize voter registration and enrollment in mail-in voting, said Miami Gardens Sen. Shevrin Jones, who was elected Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party last month.

“The fact that Republicans now hold a voter registration advantage that Democrats similarly enjoyed not too long ago is extremely concerning,” he told Florida Politics by text.

“Our voters are out there. It’s on us as Democrats to meet voters where they are and with a message that resonates with them. In Miami-Dade, we are going to get out into the community and talk to voters, reminding them what’s at stake in this election, working with them to ensure they are registered to vote and vote by mail, and then creating a voting plan with them for Get Out The Vote (GOTV).”

Jesse Scheckner

Jesse Scheckner has covered South Florida with a focus on Miami-Dade County since 2012. His work has been recognized by the Hearst Foundation, Society of Professional Journalists, Florida Society of News Editors, Florida MMA Awards and Miami New Times. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @JesseScheckner.


10 comments

  • tom palmer

    May 31, 2024 at 6:45 pm

    Democrats should have worked on registration years ago. They have no one to blame but themselves.

    • Karen B

      June 1, 2024 at 12:51 pm

      I have made $200 reliably in one day.That was my ideal day in my life and my boss was to a great degree content with me..CNN is additionally awed from my work and is outstandingly happy..check also unpretentious parts by open the affiliation and tap on HOME TECH OR MEDIA………
       
      Begin here>>>>>>>>> Payathome9.Com

  • Paul Passarelli

    May 31, 2024 at 7:33 pm

    Democrats are idiots. They pretend to support minorities, but in truth all they really accomplish is dividing the people into small subgroups to inhibit unity. This way they can “tailor their message” which is a euphemism for ‘selectively lie’ to each subgroup about their true intentions.

    “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

  • ScienceBLVR

    May 31, 2024 at 7:39 pm

    A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
    Spoken words by one of the last decent Republicans. Lincoln would weep to see what the Grand Old Party has devolved into.. a sad sick con man and his syncophatic lackies..

  • My Take

    May 31, 2024 at 11:16 pm

    GOPer Yankee immigrants have poisoned the blood of traditional Florida.
    They are here to replace us.
    Horn honking and grating accents reveal them almost everywhere.
    Thank God for the “almost.”

    • Fat Floridians And Their Dogs In Publix

      June 1, 2024 at 5:26 am

      They took your homes and moved you into mAnUFakurED housing.

      And you did nothing, fatso.

      • My Take

        June 1, 2024 at 7:07 am

        When I first saw purple leotards on a female shopping in a Zayers (preceeded KMart) I knew the invasion of you uncultured tacky big-city northerners had engulfed us.

  • Phil Morton

    June 1, 2024 at 6:24 am

    Makes sense. Total voter registration is back to where it was in 2018 and we’ve lost over a million voters since 2021. I’m guessing most of that loss came from Democrats.

    • JustBabs

      June 1, 2024 at 2:53 pm

      Seems the NPA voters has grown, over the years, and will offset the Republican registered voters. You can bet those NPA voters are not MAGAt cult members. MAGAts take pride in their loyalty to the felon, def register as Republican, and are the only Floridians voting for him.

  • JustBabs

    June 1, 2024 at 2:34 pm

    Be very skeptical. We’ve already been informed that Republican operatives are completing applications for our most vulnerable citizens and signing them up as Republicans without their knowledge. It’s an operation so they can control the outcome of election without too much suspicion. If there’s any mass cheating going on in our federal elections, it’s happening in Florida, where the Sunshine has been blocked out on public access, and transparency to gov operations. They will get caught, eventually. They always do.

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, William March, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Jesse Scheckner, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704