At time of writing, it does not look good for Republicans to take the Senate, although they may narrowly win the House. What I am hearing is that many of the candidates endorsed by Donald Trump won in their primaries, but lost narrowly in the general elections. But there was one VERY bright spot. Florida governor Ron DeSantis beat his Democrat opponent like a bongo drum.

Here is the story from The Blaze:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis easily won reelection Tuesday, as multiple news outlets called the race with unexpected ease as the night’s vote-counting began.

DeSantis, who was initially elected in 2018 by an extremely narrow margin over Andrew Gillum, had a much easier time in 2022 against Democrat Charlie Crist, who has formerly lost statewide races as a Republican, an independent, and a Democrat and who is widely unpopular statewide due to his transparent political opportunism.

DeSantis’ reelection campaign was viewed by many as a trial balloon for a potential 2024 presidential campaign after DeSantis established himself as a national figure by bucking restrictive federal COVID guidance issued by former President Donald Trump’s COVID czar, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Under DeSantis’ guidance, Florida was among the first states to insist on sending children back to public schools for in-person learning and to reject vaccine and mask mandates.

These policies, which have since been adopted virtually nationwide, earned him the ire of the vast majority of the national media, who frequently invited Fauci on television to rebuke him. However, they made him a national celebrity with conservatives who chafed under Fauci’s policies and contradictory messages.

DeSantis also garnered national attention by championing legislation that prevented sexually explicit instruction for children grades K-3, which was falsely labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” law by Democrats and their allies in the media. DeSantis made parental rights in education a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, repeatedly hitting on the issue on the stump and in debates.

DeSantis’ easy victory also broke the trend of Republican candidates underperforming some expectations on election night.

This is very good news. If we want to take back the White House, the candidate with the proven record is right here. Florida is a swing state, but somehow this guy went from a swing state margin of 0.4% to a margin of 19.61%. How did he do it? He did it by producing results as the governor of a state.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was busy on election night. Except he was cheering on the loss of a Republican candidate for Senate in Colorado.

Daily Wire reports:

Former President Donald Trump (R) cheered as Republicans lost a potential pickup in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night.

Trump made the shot on his social media platform against Joe O’Dea (R) in Colorado as many Republicans across the country underperformed expectations.

“Joe O’Dea lost BIG!” Trump said. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

[…]O’Dea lost to incumbent U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) in a race that had grown unexpectedly close in recent days with the RealClearPolitics average recently indicating that the race had moved from “lean Democrat” to “toss up.”

Reporter Alex Roarty noted how Trump had approached the race vs. how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) approached the race. “Going to be a topic of conversation moving forward that Trump told his supporters not to vote for O’Dea — while DeSantis recorded a robo-call for him,” Roarty tweeted.

I am not sure that we should be looking to Donald Trump for candidate selection or leadership of the Republican party at this time. Many Trump selections lost badly on Tuesday night. But DeSantis won. I think we need to pick candidates who win, and not candidates who lose. People who lose while fighting still lose. If DeSantis is our candidate in the general election in 2024, he will win the election.