Why has the FL GOP in particular been so successful?

[ProgressiveModerate]

At face value, FL should be a D-leaning state, even once you factor in Cubans and retirees. The state is almost majority-minority, extremely urban/suburban in nature, has a notable black and non-cuban Hispanic populations, about an average college attainment rate, ect, ect. Even on statewide referendums, it seems like a lot of D-aligned policy positions outperform partisanship.

One obvious discussion that's been had many times before is about how R the cuban population can be due to specific issues relevant to that community. But there are a few other things I've noticed about FL.

Firstly, the GOP stays competitive and sometimes outright wins the immediate downtowns of these large cities. I can't think of any other major cities in the country at this point where the downtowns lean outright R outside of Florida.

Secondly, the GOP probably has the most diverse state legislative caucus of anywhere in the country. Srs look up the general assembly roster and you'll find many of the GOP state reps are younger folks, women, people of color, whereas Dems are becoming pretty confined to just heavily African-American and D-leaning Latino seats at this point.

Do turnout dynamics just hugely favor the GOP? Is Florida just culturally "Republican" at this point? Does the FL GOP actually appeal to a large swath of independent/moderate voters?

[TML]

According to a now semi-retired Democratic strategist based in FL, Republicans have been much more aggressive in going after voters over the past decade and a half. They apparently figured out that they needed to reduce their losing margins among Hispanic voters, and this has now paid dividends. He mentions that Democrats need to do likewise with non-college white voters, especially in the suburban/exurban areas around Orlando & Tampa, if they want to be competitive again statewide. He noted that Nikki Fried won in 2018 with narrower losing margins in Republican-leaning counties compared to Andrew Gillum & Bill Nelson.