The rapid transition of Florida from a competitive swing state to a solid red state where Republicans are running up the score is not something that should be taken for granted. It provides lessons for Republicans all across the country.

Florida Republicans now outnumber Democrats by nearly 500,000 registered voters, with Democrats having lost more than 154,000 voters since the midterm elections just seven months ago. Florida Republicans only passed Democrats in registered voters in 2021, quickly amassing a 306,000-voter lead by the midterm elections and an advantage of nearly half a million voters now.

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This is a state that just 11 years ago supported Barack Obama’s presidential reelection campaign. In 2016, the state backed GOP candidate Donald Trump by just over 1 point and then supported him in 2020 by just over 3 points. In 2018, the state elected Ron DeSantis as governor by just 0.4 points.

DeSantis, GOP Florida legislators, and other activists and operatives in the state have done such a marvelous job promoting freedom and prosperity that the state then backed DeSantis’s reelection campaign in November by more than 19 points. It was the first time a Florida GOP candidate for governor won Miami-Dade County since 2002 and Palm Beach County since 1986. Republicans dominated up and down the ballot, making now the first time Democrats don’t hold a single statewide position since the end of Reconstruction.

DeSantis is the driving force behind this shift. If you are a GOP primary voter looking not just to beat President Joe Biden but to build strong majorities in the House and Senate, DeSantis would be the obvious choice. That is certainly true when compared to the down-ballot struggles of the Republican Party under former President Donald Trump (who is also the only candidate in the race who already lost to Biden).

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What’s more, if you are a GOP official in a competitive or deep-blue state, Florida’s transformation offers you both a model of success and a beacon of hope. If DeSantis could jump from a 0.4-point victory to a 19.4-point victory in just four years, who is to say disciplined state Republican parties couldn’t do the same with quality candidates and motivated operatives? After all, DeSantis just won reelection by a larger margin than Democrat Gavin Newsom did in ultra-Left California. Nothing is out of the question.

The path forward for Republicans to win, both at the state level and the national level, seems very clear. DeSantis and Florida Republicans have offered everyone the blueprint. Republican politicians and voters would be wise to accept it, especially if the state of the country is as dire as everyone seems to agree it is.