Is Manatee County friendly territory for DeSantis? Here’s what the voting numbers show
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited Bradenton on Tuesday to talk taxes. The governor also was in Bradenton last year to announce new sites for monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID patients.
Is DeSantis in friendly political territory when he visits Manatee?
In 2018, Manatee County voters favored the Republican DeSantis over Democrat Andrew Gillum. DeSantis narrowly defeated Gillum statewide, but in Manatee he got more than 93,000 votes to Gillum’s 67,000.
And that was no surprise considering that as of July 2022, Republican-registered voters outnumbered Democratic-registered voters in Manatee 121,000 to 79,000, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
Plus, in perhaps the most telling of a friendly political atmosphere, Manatee County commissioners recently named a new park after the governor.
The 17-acre Ron DeSantis Park near Kinnan Elementary will feature walking trails, a dog park and pickleball courts when it opens next year.
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 1:28 PM.
