The latest figures from election officials show there are about 500 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Hillsborough. This is the first time that Democrats have been outnumbered in what has traditionally been the region's bluest county.
April Schiff, a Republican political consultant, said when she was elected in 2020 as a state committeewoman, there were 70,000 more Democrats registered in Hillsborough.
“Since that time, we have spent a tremendous effort reaching out to all the new residents of Hillsborough County,” she said. “We've done voter registration drives all over the county at various festivals, fairs. We went into gas stations when the gas prices started going up, and we've had great successes, and we've finally pulled it off.”
And she said it's a reflection of trends throughout the nation and the state.
“I think it's a result of multiple things,” Schiff said. “Number 1, people moving here. Number 2, our voter registration efforts that we have focused on from the Republican Party of Florida and also just the nature of the economy and how things are going in this country. People are seeing things a little bit differently.”
A majority of Hillsborough voters cast a ballot for President Trump in the last election. And Republicans now have a solid majority on the county commission, with a 5-2 margin.
Every county in the Tampa Bay and Sarasota area now has a majority of registered Republicans. Only eight counties in the state are still majority blue, mostly in South Florida and major urban centers.
Florida Democrats haven’t elected a statewide representative since Nikki Fried was elected Agriculture Commissioner in 2018. She is now the head of the Florida Democratic Party. Florida Republicans outnumbered Democrats for the first time in 2021. They now have an advantage of more than one million registered voters statewide.
