Tuesday night was brutal for the GOP, and there's no point sugarcoating it. Still, a beating like this leaves a party with a choice. Republicans can sulk, or they can pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and fight on. The smart ones are already asking who leads that fight once President Donald Trump's name no longer appears on a ballot.
During our live blog Tuesday night, I said something that I want to expand on here. I said the big winner of the night was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's 2028 presidential campaign, and I stand by that assessment 100%.
Democrats captured both the House and the Senate. Trump has two years left in office, and he'll spend much of that time governing by executive order and fending off a bunch of bogus investigations. That reality forces Republicans to look beyond the next two years and toward 2028. Make no mistake about it, pretty soon Democrats and Republicans alike will start forming exploratory committees, and the candidacy announcements will inevitably follow.
Republicans lost far and wide. We even lost Texas, which defies all logic. If Tuesday taught us anything, it's that the GOP needs to learn how to win without Trump at the top of the ticket. One Republican has already shown he knows how.
Yes, we lost Texas, but Florida stood strong. That's because of DeSantis. He first won the governor's race by the slimmest of margins. Then he single-handedly grew the party, turning the nation's most notorious bellwether swing state into a solid Republican stronghold. He knows how to fight and win.
Tuesday's results reinforced that record. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) defeated Democrat David Jolly. Donalds campaigned explicitly on continuing the DeSantis-era record. Meanwhile, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) won her first Senate election, beating Democrat Angie Nixon. DeSantis appointed Moody in 2025 to replace Marco Rubio, who left the Senate to become secretary of state.
Yes, the races came in closer than expected. DeSantis still walks away with two more statewide wins tied directly to his leadership, and a strong argument that his governing model built a durable Republican coalition. When he leaves office, he'll leave behind a legacy as the guy who saved Florida.
Related: The Worst Loss Wasn't Texas
I don't buy the rhetoric from the left or the anti-Trump right that MAGA is dead. Still, DeSantis can position himself as a strong GOP leader without the baggage of the Trump administration, the way Vice President JD Vance or Rubio might carry it. He also gave himself an opening before Election Day. DeSantis criticized aspects of the Republican Party's direction, including the Iran war, which clearly dragged the GOP down this year. Those comments give him a foundation to argue that Republicans need to reassess their priorities and that he's the leader for the next generation.
To be clear, DeSantis isn't an anti-Trump candidate, and he shouldn't try to become one. What he can do is bridge the divide between the MAGA coalition and the Republicans who don't consider themselves MAGA. Few figures in the party can credibly speak to both camps, and DeSantis has spent years doing exactly that in Florida.
The post-election debate over the party's national strategy and governing priorities is coming, whether Republicans want it or not. DeSantis brings a two-term record into that conversation. He spent eight years turning Florida into the country's most prominent example of conservative state governance. His work on education, immigration, taxation, cultural issues, and even abortion gives him a strong record to run on in 2028.
The good news for the GOP is that it has a solid bench of potential candidates. Right now, DeSantis is getting overlooked. I think that will change. When I saw him speak at CPAC 2022, I knew he was destined to be president, and I think his opening is starting to present itself.
After Tuesday's massacre, the case for a proven winner has never been stronger, and DeSantis is the Republican best positioned to make it.
