@President Stanton,
Donald Trump is such a Clown and full of nonsense. I actually can make a good case that Trump was costing DeSantis Votes during the General Election with Gillum in 2018. Let's face it: That 2018 FL Governor Race should have never, ever been this close as it was against a Bernie Sanders type of Socialist. By picking a Cuban-Hispanic in Jeanette Nunez as Running Mate DeSantis overperformed in Miami-Dade County relative to the Donald Trump - Hillary Clinton 2016 Race in FL. Trump got only 34 % in Dade County during the 2016 FL Presidential Election while DeSantis nearly got 40 % in the same County during the 2018 Governor Race.
Trump was costing DeSantis Votes in Counties like Duval, Seminole, Hillsborough and Pinellas and Trump comes out and says "Without me Ron would not be Governor?" GIVE ME A BREAK!!!
That's a interesting point of view and I don't say it's not correct, but DeSantis wouldn't have won the primary without Trump's endorsement. He was just a backbencher in congress who fully jumped on the Trump train at the time to win the God Emperor's grace. In that sense, Trump isn't totally wrong that he wouldn't be governor without him. If Trump endorsed Putnam in the primary, he would have won. And probably the general election by slightly more as well.
If Trump was so good why didn't DeSantis win Pinellas County. DeSantis lost Pinellas, Duval, Hillsborough and Seminole by a bigger margin compared to Trump in 2016 against Hillary.
Trump might have been as you say a Net + for DeSantis in the Primary but in the GE against Gillum he was a massive drag for DeSantis and Rick Scott as well.
Jeanette Nunez was a Florida State Legislator from Miami-Dade County and I can make a good case that she in the end, saved DeSantis and not Trumps repeated visits to the State.
If you take a look at the Miami-Dade County Precinct-by-Precinct Data from 2016 and 2018 you will see that DeSantis overperformed in Hispanic Areas compared to Trump 2016.
