Dem incompetence and long term trends were obvious factors. Especially the influx of Midwestern and/or white retirees plus the shift among Cuban Americans towards the GOP. In addition, Crist was an uninspiring, has-been candidate that lost multiple statewide races on multiple ballots (R, I and D) before.
Was it those groups (particularly Cuban Americans) defecting or voting for Desantis for the first time? I suspect more it's more of the latter.
Crist ran an unexpectedly horrible campaign, doing basically everything wrong.
Yeah, I'm not sure what happened there. From what I can tell he let up on Desantis during hurricane Ian and was short on funding. Crist also has a lot of losses on his record.
