Speaking for Florida, the state is very split for many years now, and the voting this time just showed it to be true again. We have two recounts going on, senator and governor. I’m pretty sure both will go to the republicans in the end.
I heard a few of my Democrat friends say they wished Nelson would retire, and let someone else run. I’m not sure their specific reasons though. He ran against Rick Scott, and many people liked him when he was governor, so he wasn’t some new guy on the scene, he has been elected by the state of Florida before, just in another position.
Regarding the governorship, the Republican team spent a lot of time and money calling the Democrat candidate, Gillum, antisemitic and saying he would raise taxes significantly. My close friend told me he was going to raise taxes 40%! She was totally bamboozled by the messages being pushed. I think this tax theme plays around the country, not just Florida. The antisemitic accusation is a disgrace! But, it plays with the Evangelicals. Plus, the candidate is black, so I think it probably helped motivate republicans to vote. Not that I think most republicans are racist, I don’t, but I think they worry about a democrat, who talks about social programs, who is blac, having a lot of power. Also, the Republican served in the military, and a lot of the Florida population has very strong feelings about that.