Republican leaders in Florida reject the idea that the mass deportations pushed by Donald Trump are the main explanation for their electoral setback in the southern part of the state, despite the tight results of the midterm elections and warnings from figures in their own party about the dissatisfaction of Cuban and Hispanic voters.
An analysis published this Wednesday by Florida Phoenix examines how some of the leading Republican figures attribute the results of November 3 primarily to economic concerns and the war with Iran, while downplaying the rejection of the immigration policies of the Trump administration.
Among them is Governor Ron DeSantis, who during a press conference in Tallahassee dismissed the idea that deportations were a decisive factor in the electoral results of South Florida.
"No I don't think that was a significant problem," DeSantis stated. "I don't believe it was a determining factor in South Florida, although there were some people who were concerned about it," he added.
The governor acknowledged that the immigration policy had raised concerns among people who had been living in the United States for years, but insisted that it was not the predominant issue that determined the vote.
Her interpretation contrasts with the warning from Cuban-American Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, who after the elections acknowledged that the deportations of immigrant workers without criminal records had harmed her party.
"The Hispanic vote punished the indiscriminate deportation of Latino workers, not criminals; in addition to the low economy," declared Salazar during an interview with Univisión.
The congresswoman also stated that voters had sent a clear message to the Republican Party regarding the need to change its course on economic and immigration issues.
Salazar's words came after one of the closest contests of her political career: the representative for Florida's 27th District, who had won by more than 20 percentage points in 2024, needed an automatic recount this time to confirm her victory over the Cuban-American Democrat Eliott Rodríguez.
According to the results officially communicated by the Miami-Dade Elections Office on Tuesday, Salazar received 124,519 votes, equivalent to 50.22%, compared to Rodríguez's 123,433 votes, which is 49.78%. The final difference was just 1,086 votes.
A similar situation occurred in District 26, where Republican congressman Cuban-American Mario Díaz-Balart managed to retain his seat against Democrat Nicole Locklin by a margin of 1,704 votes. The contest, which encompasses areas of Miami-Dade and Broward, was not resolved until Monday, November 9.
These results have intensified the debate over the electoral behavior of Hispanic communities in South Florida, particularly in cities like Hialeah and Doral, where federal immigration policies directly impact numerous families.
A survey published on Tuesday by UnidosUS and BSP Research revealed that 81% of Latino voters in Florida believe that the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have gone too far. Among the Cuban-American voters surveyed, the percentage reached 78%.
The study, conducted between October 20 and November 2, included 516 Hispanic voters from Florida and had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. Fifty percent expressed anger over ICE's aggressive tactics and the lack of accountability.
The results also show that migration-related distress was not the only concern for these voters. Fifty-nine percent identified the cost of living and inflation as their main issues, while fifty-seven percent expressed an unfavorable opinion of Trump.
According to the same survey, Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives received support from 57% of the surveyed Latino voters in Florida, compared to 41% for the Republicans.
However, Cuban Americans continued to be the only Latino-origin group evaluated in the study that mainly supported Republican candidates.
Republican Senator Ashley Moody, re-elected in the elections on November 3, also avoided attributing the results to a rejection of deportations.
During an interview on Fox & Friends, from Fox News, she was asked if she shared Trump's concerns about the deportation of immigrants without criminal records.
Moody responded by defending the cooperation between Florida authorities and the federal government to detain and deport immigrants who commit crimes, without directly addressing whether he believed the policy had gone too far.
For his part, Evan Power, president of the Florida Republican Party, stated in an interview with the program Here & Now from NPR, that voters had supported Republican leadership in the state.
However, he avoided directly addressing the criticisms of immigration policy when the interviewer raised that issue.
Trump himself has acknowledged that his immigration offensive may have hurt the Republicans electorally. In an interview with the 60 Minutes program on CBS aired on Sunday, he stated that immigration policy had both helped and harmed his party.
The president defended the closure of the border and the expulsion of immigrants deemed dangerous, but acknowledged the impact of deportations on individuals who had been working in the United States for years.
He also acknowledged that the measures may have been too harsh and expressed his willingness to negotiate with the Democrats on immigration.
The debate holds special significance within the Cuban-American community, which has historically been one of the main Republican electoral bases in South Florida.
A survey from Florida International University (FIU), published at the end of October, found that 76% of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade disapproved of the increase in deportations of Cubans without criminal records.
However, the same study revealed that 68% of respondents intending to vote in Congress continued to lean toward Republican candidates.
The survey, conducted between September 4 and 29 among 1,004 Cuban Americans, showed that opposition to deportations did not necessarily indicate a departure from traditional party preferences.
In contrast to the warnings about the discontent of that electorate, Trump stated on Monday that 94% of Cuban Americans had voted for him and claimed that his administration was taking care of that community.
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