Florida

In the 2016 general election, Donald Trump won Florida with 49.02% of the vote, compared with Hillary Clinton’s 47.82%. Florida has voted Republican in 12 of the last 17 presidential elections (dating back to 1952). The last Republican to win the White House without winning Florida was Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The last Democrat to win the White House without winning Florida was Bill Clinton in 1992. The state Legislature is controlled by Republicans, as is the governor’s office. The state’s US senators are both Republicans, while its US House delegation is more evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. Close elections in Florida are often decided in the crucial “I-4” corridor stretching from St. Petersburg to Daytona Beach. This region also covers Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland and the “Space Coast.” Ordinarily, Republican candidates run best in the western Panhandle (Pensacola and Panama City), Orange County (Orlando), the southern Gulf Coast (especially Fort Myers and Naples) and Miami’s Cuban American community. The Democratic base is centralized in the so-called “Gold Coast” communities of West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale (Broward County), Miami (Dade County), and in both Tallahassee and the minority communities of the Panhandle.