President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on February 18, 2025 (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok/Flickr)
In recent years, Florida has been a major source of frustration for Democrats — from Gov. Ron DeSantis winning reelection by 19 percent in 2022 to President Donald Trump carrying the Sunshine State three presidential elections in a row. Florida is home to a who's-who of MAGA, including DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott, former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, influencer/conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Trump himself. And while Trump carried Georgia, Florida's neighbor to the north, by only 2 percent in 2024, he won Florida by roughly 13 percent.
Once considered a swing state, Florida is now a GOP stronghold. But according to Politico reporters Mia McCarthy and Calen Razor, Florida Republicans are worried that Trump's moves against mail-in voting could hurt them in the 2026 midterms.
In an April 7 column, McCarthy and Razor explain, "Here is what's not-so-sunny lately for the Sunshine State Republicans. Mail-in voting: Trump, last week, signed an executive order that would limit mail-in voting after a months-long push to include such restrictions in a GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act. But millions of Floridians voted by mail in the last general election, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, last week, signed Florida's own version of the elections bill without mail voting limits."
A Florida Republican, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Politico that could "absolutely" hurt Republicans in the Sunshine State.
That Republican warned, "It's going to really hurt the turnout. What we saw before is Republicans will say, 'OK, we will vote. We will do that.' And then, they just don't all get around to going' (to the polls to vote in person)."
According to McCarthy and Razor, Florida Republicans are also worried that redistricting could "backfire" and hurt them.
Rep. John Rutherford (R-Florida) told Politico, "They'll never create five more Republican leaning (districts) unless they just really hamstring several other Republican-leaning districts.
I think we've got to be careful with that, because I think it certainly can hurt Republicans."
Another thing that could hurt Florida Republicans, McCarthy and Razor report, is Trump's immigration policies — as the Sunshine State attracts a lot of conservative Latinos.
"Some Republicans also have started to push back on Trump's immigration policies as polls show GOP support among Hispanics weakening," the Politico reporters explain. "Rep. María Elvira Salazar, who represents a large Hispanic community, is leading that charge. She recently signed onto an effort with Democrats to force the House to vote on reinstating immigration protections for thousands of undocumented Venezuelans. And she was one of four Republicans who recently crossed party lines to force a vote on reinstating the same Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants."