A Republican Party primary took place on August 23, 2022, in Florida to determine which candidate would earn the right to run as the party's nominee in the state's gubernatorial election on November 8, 2022.

Incumbent Ron DeSantis advanced from the Republican primary for Governor of Florida.

This page focuses on Florida's Republican Party gubernatorial primary. For more in-depth information on Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Ron DeSantis advanced from the Republican primary for Governor of Florida.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

John Joseph Mercadante (R)

Election competitiveness

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[1]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Race ratings: Florida gubernatorial election, 2022
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 8, 2022	November 1, 2022	October 25, 2022	October 18, 2022
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Campaign data

Campaign finance

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates in Florida in the 2022 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Florida, click here.

Filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates, 2022
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source	Notes
Florida	Governor	Ballot-qualified party	144,419	$8,050.86	6/17/2022	Source	Petition signatures only required in lieu of filing fee.
Florida	Governor	Unaffiliated	144,419	$5,367.24	6/17/2022	Source	Petition signatures only required in lieu of filing fee.

State profile

Demographic data for Florida
	Florida	U.S.
Total population:	20,244,914	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	53,625	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	76%	73.6%
Black/African American:	16.1%	12.6%
Asian:	2.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	23.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	86.9%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$47,507	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	19.8%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Florida. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Florida

Florida voted Republican in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, four are located in Florida, accounting for 1.94 percent of the total pivot counties.^[5]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Florida had three Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.66 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respsectively.

More Florida coverage on Ballotpedia

Election analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.

Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.

Presidential elections

	2026 → ← 2018
Governor of Florida
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election;
Election details
	Filing deadline: June 17, 2022
	Primary: August 23, 2022; General: November 8, 2022; Pre-election incumbent(s):; Ron DeSantis (Republican)
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Voting in Florida
Ballotpedia analysis
	Federal and state primary competitiveness; State executive elections in 2022; Impact of term limits in 2022; State government trifectas; State government triplexes; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
Florida; executive elections
	Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Attorney General; Chief Financial Officer; Agriculture Commissioner

See also: Presidential voting trends in Florida and The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Cook PVI by congressional district

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Florida, 2022
District	Incumbent	Party	PVI
Florida's 1st	Matt Gaetz	Republican	R+19
Florida's 2nd	Neal Dunn / Alfred Lawson	Republican	R+8
Florida's 3rd	Kat Cammack	Republican	R+9
Florida's 4th	New Seat	N/A	R+6
Florida's 5th	John Rutherford	Republican	R+11
Florida's 6th	Michael Waltz	Republican	R+14
Florida's 7th	Open	Democratic	R+5
Florida's 8th	Bill Posey	Republican	R+11
Florida's 9th	Darren Soto	Democratic	D+8
Florida's 10th	Open	Democratic	D+14
Florida's 11th	Dan Webster	Republican	R+8
Florida's 12th	Gus Bilirakis	Republican	R+17
Florida's 13th	Charlie Crist	Democratic	R+6
Florida's 14th	Kathy Castor	Democratic	D+8
Florida's 15th	New Seat	N/A	R+4
Florida's 16th	Vern Buchanan	Republican	R+7
Florida's 17th	Greg Steube	Republican	R+10
Florida's 18th	Scott Franklin	Republican	R+13
Florida's 19th	Byron Donalds	Republican	R+13
Florida's 20th	Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick	Democratic	D+25
Florida's 21st	Brian Mast	Republican	R+7
Florida's 22nd	Lois Frankel	Democratic	D+7
Florida's 23rd	Open	Democratic	D+5
Florida's 24th	Frederica Wilson	Democratic	D+25
Florida's 25th	Debbie Wasserman Schultz	Democratic	D+9
Florida's 26th	Mario Diaz-Balart	Republican	R+8
Florida's 27th	Maria Elvira Salazar	Republican	Even
Florida's 28th	Carlos Gimenez	Republican	R+2

2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Florida^[6]
District	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
Florida's 1st	33.0%	65.3%
Florida's 2nd	44.0%	55.0%
Florida's 3rd	42.4%	56.5%
Florida's 4th	46.0%	52.7%
Florida's 5th	41.5%	57.3%
Florida's 6th	37.7%	61.4%
Florida's 7th	46.7%	52.2%
Florida's 8th	40.6%	58.3%
Florida's 9th	58.2%	40.8%
Florida's 10th	65.3%	33.5%
Florida's 11th	44.1%	55.0%
Florida's 12th	35.1%	63.9%
Florida's 13th	46.1%	52.9%
Florida's 14th	59.0%	39.8%
Florida's 15th	47.9%	51.0%
Florida's 16th	45.1%	54.0%
Florida's 17th	41.6%	57.6%
Florida's 18th	38.1%	60.9%
Florida's 19th	39.1%	60.2%
Florida's 20th	75.9%	23.5%
Florida's 21st	45.0%	54.4%
Florida's 22nd	58.5%	40.9%
Florida's 23rd	56.3%	43.1%
Florida's 24th	74.3%	25.2%
Florida's 25th	59.7%	39.7%
Florida's 26th	40.6%	58.9%
Florida's 27th	49.6%	49.9%
Florida's 28th	46.5%	52.9%

2012-2020

How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:

County-level voting pattern categories
Democratic
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Democratic	D	D	D
Trending Democratic	R	D	D
Battleground Democratic	D	R	D
New Democratic	R	R	D
Republican
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Republican	R	R	R
Trending Republican	D	R	R
Battleground Republican	R	D	R
New Republican	D	D	R

Following the 2020 presidential election, 46.6% of Floridians lived in one of the state's nine Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 40.2% lived in one of 52 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Florida was Trending Republican, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Florida following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Florida county-level statistics, 2020
Solid Democratic	9	46.6%
Solid Republican	52	40.2%
New Democratic	2	6.8%
Battleground Democratic	1	4.5%
Trending Republican	3	2.0%
Total voted Democratic	12	57.8%
Total voted Republican	55	42.2%

Historical voting trends

Florida presidential election results (1900-2020)

17 Democratic wins
14 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	D	R	R	D	D	R	R

Statewide elections

This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.

U.S. Senate elections

See also: List of United States Senators from Florida

The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Florida.

U.S. Senate election results in Florida
Race	Winner	Runner up
2018	50.1%	49.9%
2016	52.0%	44.3%
2012	55.2%	42.2%
2010	48.9%	29.7% (Independent)
2006	60.3%	38.1%
Average	53.3	40.8

Gubernatorial elections

See also: Governor of Florida

The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Florida.

Gubernatorial election results in Florida
Race	Winner	Runner up
2018	49.6%	49.2%
2014	48.1%	47.1%
2010	48.9%	47.7%
2006	52.2%	45.1%
2002	56.0%	43.2%
Average	51.0	46.5

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Delaware's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Delaware, November 2022
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	0	9	9
Republican	2	16	18
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	2	2
Total	2	27	29

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Florida's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Florida, November 2022
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Ron DeSantis
Lieutenant Governor	Jeanette Nuñez
Secretary of State	Cord Byrd
Attorney General	Ashley B. Moody

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Florida State Legislature as of November 2022.

Florida State Senate

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	12
	Republican Party	28
	Vacancies	0
Total		40

Florida House of Representatives

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	35
	Republican Party	84
	Vacancies	1
Total		120

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Florida was a Republican trifecta, with majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and control of the governorship. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Florida Party Control: 1992-2022
One year of a Democratic trifecta • Twenty-three years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Governor	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	S	S	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Florida and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Florida
	Florida	United States
Population	21,538,187	331,449,281
Land area (sq mi)	53,653	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White	71.6%	70.4%
Black/African American	15.9%	12.6%
Asian	2.8%	5.6%
Native American	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Other (single race)	3.3%	5.1%
Multiple	6%	5.2%
Hispanic/Latino	25.8%	18.2%
Education
High school graduation rate	88.5%	88.5%
College graduation rate	30.5%	32.9%
Income
Median household income	$57,703	$64,994
Persons below poverty level	13.3%	12.8%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

External links

Suggest a link

Footnotes

↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012," accessed September 9, 2022

[1] Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.

[2] Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018

[3] Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018

[4] Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018

[5] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[6] Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012," accessed September 9, 2022

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Florida	State Executive Elections	News and Analysis

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Florida gubernatorial election, 2022 (August 23 Republican primary)