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Gov. Ron DeSantis, Charlie Crist in Tampa Bay for election night results

By FOX 13 news staff
Updated  November 8, 2022 7:15pm EST
2022 Midterm Elections
FOX 13 News

Crist, DeSantis need turnout to win the day

Gov. Ron DeSantis urged supporters at his final campaign stop to get to the polls on Election Day in hopes of building a "red wave" that would sweep Democrats from office in Florida and nationwide.

Both gubernatorial candidates for Florida are wrapping up their long campaigns in the Tampa Bay area – Charlie Crist will be in St. Petersburg while Ron DeSantis will be across the bay in Tampa.

Whoever wins will get a second term as the governor of the Sunshine State.

But before polls closed Tuesday, both made their final stops across the state, trying to get their message out one final time. By the afternoon, the polls showed Republicans winning across the board in state elections, but Democratic candidates have said those polls are skewed. Currently, Real Clear Politics has Gov. DeSantis in the lead by 11.6 points.

In 2018, 4,075,445 votes went to DeSantis while 4,041,762 voted for Andrew Gillum. The margin of victory was enough for DeSantis following a recount.

You can follow live election results on www.fox13news.com/election.

Midterm election preview in Florida

After months of campaigning, it all comes down to Tuesday. Candidates will continue crisscrossing Florida on Election Eve.

MORE: Trump says he will make 'big announcement' on Nov. 15 in Florida

For Crist, if he pulls out a win, it would be his second term as the Florida governor. He served from 2007 to 2012.

DeSantis has vastly out-fundraised Crist and performed better in polls in the lead-up to an election where he rarely mentioned his opponent by name and instead characterized the race as a fight against the "woke agenda" of liberals.

Crist, on the other hand, centered his campaign on DeSantis, framing the Republican as a bully fixated on angling toward the presidency at the expense of the everyday problems of Floridians. At the candidates’ only debate, Crist repeatedly pressed the governor to commit to serving a full second term if elected. DeSantis skirted the question.

A potential victory for DeSantis would serve to advance speculation of a 2024 presidential run, a question DeSantis has so far dodged as former President Donald Trump has teased a third presidential run. Trump, who credits himself for propelling DeSantis to a first term in the governor’s office, has grown frustrated with DeSantis’ refusal to rule out a 2024 run, according to people familiar with Trump’s thinking.

Democrats, the minority party in the state government, face considerable challenges in a state recently considered to be a perennial political battleground but that has drifted to the right. Trump won the state twice and Republicans have been aggressive in organizing at the local level and made a sustained push on voter registration.