Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told reporters Wednesday that Americans should prepare for a dramatically different Washington, predicting Democrats will hold commanding majorities in both chambers of Congress after recent elections.
“What do we have federally? You have probably 56 Democrat senators, at least 54, probably 56. You’re going to have maybe 258 members of the U.S. House of Representatives will be Democrat,” DeSantis said during a second press conference that day, calling it a “massive sea change” from the current 220-seat Republican House majority.
DeSantis compared the shift to the 2010 Republican wave, when the GOP reached roughly 245 to 247 House seats. “This is way more than Republicans have had our entire lives in any election,” he said.
He warned the scale of the Democratic majority would halt Republican-backed confirmations in Washington. “You forget about confirming any Supreme Court justices. Forget about confirming anybody to the president’s Cabinet — that is that strong. That ends on January 3rd. They are not going to play ball on any of that,” DeSantis said. His comments echoed similar warnings from other Republicans, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who has said Democrats will focus heavily on investigating political opponents once in power.
DeSantis also predicted a wave of congressional oversight activity. “You also look at what you’re going to see on oversight. I think every committee is going to be doing some type of investigation into a whole wide range of things involving the administration and its allies. So buckle up. It’s going to be a lot different,” he said. “The balance of power has shifted significantly because of this election, and it’s not just for two years.”
A Long Road Back for Republicans
The governor said Republicans could face years of political difficulty recovering from the losses. “I know we’re going to have another election in two years. Another after that, I get some senators will be up, some won’t. But when you get to a number like 56 in the Senate, you can’t unring that in one election — normal election. It may not be able to do two. It may take till like 2032 before Republicans ever have majority in the U.S. Senate again,” DeSantis said.
He added that retaking the House in 2028 looks unlikely given the size of the gap Republicans would need to close. “You probably can’t take the House back in 2028. Just mathematically, it’s going to be very difficult given the hole. So this is an immense hole. I think the hole is — the damage is reverberating throughout the country, not just in Washington, but in local levels where they’re going to be exercising significant power in a liberal direction, even in very conservative states,” he said.
DeSantis, who is leaving the Florida governorship, pointed to the state’s record under current leadership as something residents should keep in perspective as power shifts in Washington. He argued that national election results meant to send a message to Washington could end up reshaping state and local governance in ways voters did not intend.
“It would have led to a lot of changes potentially that no one was really voting for,” he said. Voters, he added, were “voting to send a message to D.C., but you may have had things reverberate at the state and local level that you didn’t want.”
