ORLANDO, Fla. – With 98.7% of precincts reporting and 51% of the votes, President Donald Trump has been declared the winner of Florida in the U.S. presidential election, according to the Associated Press, adding the Sunshine State’s 29 electoral votes to his count in the race to the White House.
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The nationwide race is between President Trump and former Vice President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Whichever candidate claims their spot in the White House will likely need Florida, a key swing state, to win the 270 electoral votes needed to secure that win, according to News 6 political expert Dr. Jim Clark.
In fact, Clark told News 6 anchor Justin Warmoth on “The Weekly” that Florida could decide the presidential election.
With its 29 electoral college votes, winning Florida is paramount for the presidential hopefuls. After President Barack Obama won Florida in 2008 and 2012, President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 1.2% in 2016. Clark told Warmoth the president needs a repeat performance if he wants to be re-elected.
Clark encouraged News 6 viewers to pay close attention to how Seminole County voted on Tuesday, explaining the impact the county could have on the overall election.
In 2016, President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 1.2% in Seminole County, which has voted red for decades. Seminole County went blue for the 2018 election and, in a surprise to some, did the same on Tuesday night for the 2020 presidential election, as seen in the interactive graphic below.
While he lost Seminole County, Trump did especially well in Miami-Dade County this year. At one point, race data showed Trump with 529,202 votes and presidential candidate Joe Biden with 612,756 votes, with Trump racking up about 195,000 more votes in the county than in 2016.
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At that time, Clark said Trump was doing 50% better in Miami-Dade County than in 2016.
In the 2016 general election, Trump received 333,999 votes and Hillary Clinton received 624,146 votes.
Clark said President Trump campaigned for the Cuban-American vote.
“He targeted the democrats as socialists,” Clark said.
Two counties on the I-4 corridor did flip for the Democrats.
In 2016, Trump received more votes than Clinton in Seminole County and Pinellas counties.
In 2020, Biden received more votes as of 10:31 p.m. in those counties.
Use the interactive map below to find out how each Florida county voted in the 2020 presidential election.
Check all the races in Central Florida and statewide in the dropdown menu below, and get more information on the ClickOrlando.com Results 2020 page.