FLORIDA — The much-anticipated red wave has begun to crest early on Election Day in the Sunshine State. Three hours after the polls opened on Tuesday morning, a report from Florida’s Voice shows three major counties in the Greater Tampa and Miami areas might yield critical GOP victories.
Pinellas County, in which President Biden secured a narrow .3 percent victory over President Trump in 2020, showed Republicans up almost 3 percent. Meanwhile, Republicans lead in the neighboring Hillsborough County by more than 1 percent. Biden took the latter Tampa-area county by 6.8 percent.
In South Florida, Miami-Dade County has flipped red by close to 2 percent, after voting blue for President Biden by 7.3 percent in 2020.
John Couvillon, Founder and CEO of JMC Analytics & Polling, tweeted state-wide results at 11 am. Not counting Orange County, which Couvillon said is not showing Election Day results by party, the other 66 counties have collectively yielded a whopping 33-point head start for the GOP. Republicans claimed 56 percent of the 767,000 votes cast, compared to just 23 percent for Democrats.
Given the Democrats’ 8-point lead in mail-in voting, Couvillon reported Republicans held a double-digit lead (45 to 35 percent) in the first four hours after the polls opened.
If Orange County voters mimic those in the aforementioned metro areas, Republicans could be in for a historic landslide victory.
