DeSantis claims midterms were close to an 'extinction-level event' for Republican Party

Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Wednesday that his party's devastating midterm losses this week were close to an "extinction-level event," for the GOP, even as his state staved off attacks from the Democratic Party.

Democrats won back control of both chambers of Congress during Tuesday night's elections. However, Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds will be Florida's next governor and Sen. Ashley Moody won her election to a full term.

DeSantis maintained in a press conference in Tallahassee that the Democratic wins in states like Kansas, Iowa and Texas were more about voters rejecting Republicans in Washington than suddenly supporting more liberal policies.

“To call it a wave, I don’t think would be fully accurate,” DeSantis said. “It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States, blue states, red states, everything in between. And the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida.”

The governor argued that the resounding loss by Republicans was because the party focused on the wrong things such as transgender issues, instead of artificial intelligence, the economy and the job market.

“Now, the issues are different, and Republicans, it seemed like in some of the ads I was seeing, with how much money they were spending, they really were fighting yesterday’s battle," he said.

DeSantis also slammed Republicans in Congress for voting against releasing the Epstein Files and banning congressional stock trading.

The governor added that the Democratic Party is still unpopular but was able to take advantage of the mood in the country. 

"They were able to win based off the sentiment that exists in the country right now," he said. "They did not earn a mandate to indulge all their left-wing fantasies.”

The comments come a day after the governor accused some Republicans of "gaslighting" voters by refusing to acknowledge that the war in Iran has contributed to rising gas prices.

“We just got to be honest,” DeSantis told reporter Stephen A. Smith. “Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people, and it’s higher because of this conflict. That’s just the fact. If you can’t admit that to voters, then you’re gaslighting them.”  

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.