Florida Republicans surged ahead of Democrats in early voting for the November election after initially lagging in mail-in ballots. Data released Tuesday by the state Division of Elections revealed that 202,036 Republicans had visited early voting sites in 50 counties on Monday, compared to 108,832 Democrats.
Additionally, 58,373 unaffiliated voters and 7,794 third-party voters also cast early ballots.
This first day of early voting put Republicans ahead of Democrats by more than 15,000 ballots in the upcoming November 5 election. Previously, Democrats had led by over 77,000 in mail-in ballots.
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“At the end of the day, it’s all about voter turnout, and these early numbers make it clear that Florida Republicans are energized to vote,” said Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power.
“We are going to return President Trump to the White House to end inflation, make our borders safe again, grow our economy with good jobs, and restore national security. We have the wind at our back, but we can’t let up now. We need every Republican in Florida to get out and vote in the next two weeks to send Kamala Harris packing on November 5th,” said Power.
The data also reflects broader voting trends seen in Florida since 2016. In that year, when Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in the state, Republicans had slightly more mail-in votes than Democrats but trailed in early voting. By 2020, as Trump won Florida by over 3 percentage points, Democrats had significantly more mail-in ballots, while Republicans led in early voting turnout.
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Nikki Fried, Chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, expressed confidence that her party had improved its voter mobilization since the 2022 elections, during which Republican voter turnout significantly outpaced that of Democrats. Fried highlighted key issues such as property insurance and abortion that her party is focusing on to drive voter turnout.
As of Tuesday morning, 555,450 Democrats had returned mail-in ballots, compared to 477,778 Republicans, with additional ballots coming from unaffiliated and third-party voters. Early voting is set to expand statewide by Saturday.
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