TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - For the second time, Ron DeSantis can declare victory in the 2018 Florida governor’s race.
The results of a state-ordered machine recount of the Nov. 6 election between DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum were released Thursday, showing the former Republican congressman from Ponte Vedra Beach maintained a nearly 34,000-vote lead over his rival, according to the state Division of Elections.
DeSantis, who is slated to become governor on Jan. 8, only lost one vote from his lead in unofficial results that triggered the machine recount. Such recounts are required when margins between candidates are 0.5 percent or less.
The recount gave DeSantis a 33,683-vote lead, compared to a 33,684-vote margin in the tally of unofficial results released Saturday. DeSantis maintained a 0.41 percent margin over Gillum, with 49.59 percent of the vote to Gillum’s 49.18, the recount showed.
“Those returns remain clear and unambiguous, just as they were on election night, and at every point throughout this process,” DeSantis said in a statement. “I remain humbled by your support and the great honor the people of Florida have shown me as I prepare to serve as your next governor.”
However, Gillum, who conceded the race on election night but later retracted his concession as the vote margin narrowed, indicated he is not ready to give up on the race.
“A vote denied is justice denied --- the state of Florida must count every legally cast vote. As today’s unofficial reports and recent court proceedings make clear, there are tens of thousands of votes that have yet to be counted,” Gillum said in a statement. “It is not over until every legally casted vote is counted.”
A ruling Thursday by a federal judge leaves open the possibility of more votes in the governor’s race. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued an order giving potentially thousands of Florida voters a chance to fix their ballots by this weekend, if they were rejected because of mismatched signatures.
But Walker rejected a request from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who is trailing Gov. Rick Scott by about 12,600 votes in their Senate race, to extend the recount deadlines. Several counties reported they were unable to complete the machine recounts by the 3 p.m. Thursday deadline, including Palm Beach and Broward counties.
As of Thursday, Gillum had not filed any lawsuits contesting the election.
The governor-elect did not respond to News4Jax's requests for comment in the past two days.
