DeSantis says Republicans surged past Democrats in Florida voter rolls. Is that true?

In a fiery speech on Aug. 2, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Republicans have overwhelmingly overtaken the once purple state. “We were 300,000 in the hole in 2018 in terms of voter registration. Now, we’re like 1.3 million more Republicans than Democrats,” he touted.

The state’s Republican voter base grew from 4.7 million to 5.5 million voters during that timeframe, while the voter registrations among Democrats fell from more than 4.9 million to under 4.2 million, according to state records.

However, many political experts have attributed this to Florida’s closed primaries. In past elections, some Republicans have even argued non-GOP voters weighed in on primary elections after switching parties to vote in races decided by Republican primaries.