Florida's Latino Kingmakers

In a faceoff between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis for the GOP nod in 2024, the state's Hispanic voters could be decisive

- ADRIAN CARRASQUILLO

WITH FORMER PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis warily eyeing each other ahead of an expected clash over who will be the Republican candidate for president in 2024, attention has turned to Florida, where Trump reigns but DeSantis currently rules.

The two men are widely seen as leading the Republican field very early in the runup to the next presidential election. Assuming both run and retain their lead among the contenders, Florida, with its large and motivated Latino electorate, could have a major say in which one wins the GOP nomination in the Sunshine State, as well as in determining the outcome of the general election.

The numbers tell the tale of the increasingly pivotal role played by Latino voters in Florida and the possible closeness of a matchup between the two candidates. During the 2016 Republican primary, Hispanics made up 16 percent of the state's registered voters. In 2018, DeSantis garnered 44 percent of the Latino vote in the governor's race, while Trump received 46 percent support from Hispanics in Florida when he ran for reelection in 2020.

Recently the possible clash between the two has heated up with reports of a growing rift between them. The spat supposedly began with Trump calling politicians who refuse to reveal their vaccination status “gutless," seen as a shot at DeSantis, who has not said whether he received the booster. DeSantis followed by saying on a conservative podcast he would have been much more vocal in opposing Trump's early handling of the pandemic, but he didn't know the virus "would lead to locking down the country.”

Steve Cortes, a Trump advisor who has met with the former president at Mar-a-Lago since he returned to Florida after losing the election, calls reports of a “political feud” between the two Republican leaders a “media creation." But he makes clear who he believes will come out on top in 2024.