President Trump is breaking a three-decade trend of Democrats winning Florida’s Miami-Dade County as he secured a sweeping victory in Florida. 

Trump easily won the Sunshine State with more than 1 million votes, more than double his margin of victory in 2020, as the state has slipped further away from Democrats in recent years.

And he became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Miami-Dade County since 1988. According to the Associated Press, Trump was leading in the county by roughly 130,000 votes, with 95 percent of the expected vote in. 

Republicans were feeling optimistic about their chances of winning Miami-Dade County as early vote data showed Republicans held a rare advantage.

In October, the Miami-Herald reported that Republicans held a six-point advantage over Democrats, marking a significant shift from four years ago when Democrats had a 12-point lead. 

The chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, Alex Rizo, said, “We are making history…We are going to have the greatest turnout in Miami-Dade history.”

Democrats are not thrilled about the numbers, but they are hopeful their advantage in voter registrations at the county will eventually overcome the early Republican vote.

The surge in early voting numbers for Republicans comes as recent elections show the party making inroads in the county. In 2016, President Trump won Florida but lost Miami-Dade by nearly 300,000 votes. Senator Rubio also won his re-election bid that year but failed to carry the county.

In 2020, Trump significantly narrowed the margin at Miami-Dade, losing the county to President Biden by just more than 85,000 votes. Two years later, Governor DeSantis became the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win the county since 2002.