Ron DeSantis Wins Second Term as Florida Governor, Beating Democratic Challenger Charlie Crist

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won his bid for reelection Tuesday, the Associated Press projects.

In winning the race, 44-year-old DeSantis triumphed over Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist, who resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives to campaign for governor, a title he has held before — albeit on the other side of the aisle.

Crist, 66, won the state's Democratic nomination for governor on Aug. 23, 11 years after serving in the role as a Republican.

Shortly after DeSantis' general election win was called, Crist gave a concession speech congratulating DeSantis and thanking Floridians for treating him well throughout his political career. "Gov. DeSantis, to you and your family, I wish you only the best," he said, "and I wish the best to my fellow Floridians."

The 2022 campaign marked Crist's third run for Florida governor. His first, as a Republican, was successful, and he served as governor from 2007 to 2011. He became an independent in 2010, launching an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate and ultimately losing to Marco Rubio.

In 2012, Crist officially joined the Democratic Party and launched another bid for governor in 2014. He lost to Republican Rick Scott, but in 2016 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

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DeSantis, meanwhile, has made a national name for himself in recent years and ran for reelection amid intense speculation that he might be eyeing higher office — specifically, a run for the U.S. presidency in 2024.

He has downplayed those rumors, saying speculation about a presidential campaign is "purely manufactured" even as he governs in a similar style to Donald Trump, making sweeping pronouncements about "woke" culture and launching feuds with companies such as Disney.

Even Trump himself has reportedly noticed that DeSantis seems to be echoing his mannerisms, with a source close to the former president telling Rolling Stone: "There was this time, maybe a year ago that I remember [Trump] making fun of [DeSantis] for doing similar hand gestures and motions. He called it 'stealing' from him and [to paraphrase] described it as a lame impression of Trump."

Though DeSantis remains tight-lipped about a possible run for higher office, a political source recently told PEOPLE that he "is popular with Florida Republican voters, which is a good indication of how he would do nationally. He is not afraid to speak out on unpopular issues, and even more important than that, he is not afraid of Donald Trump."