Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ron DeSantis

Interview

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MACCALLUM: Here we are up here. The race for Florida governor shaping up to be another one of the most anticipated races in the country. And in typical Florida fashion, it could come down to the wire.

Republican Ron DeSantis is in a very tough race against Democrat Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee. He is trailing in the latest Quinnipiac poll by seven points.

Joining me now, Congressman Ron DeSantis. Good to have you with us, Congressman DeSantis. Welcome to the Story tonight in Florida. Talk to me a little bit about early voting. Because in the early count, Democrats seem to be outpacing an early voting. Does that concern you?

REP. RON DESANTIS, R-FLA.: Well, actually, we are going to be ended about 70 to 80,000 votes ahead of where Republicans were in 2016 which, of course, if you remember, we swept all the statewide Senate race, presidential race. So, we are going to be going into the election in a much stronger position than we did in 2016.

Our voters tend to prefer to vote on election day, so I think we have our habitual voters that we're going to mobilized. Obviously, we're going to bring new people into the poll, but I think we're going to decisively win on election day and I think that will put us in a good position to win the race.

MACCALLUM: So, in terms of the younger voter turnout, that also tends to be up in the early voting. I mean, obviously you look at all these demographics, you tried to figure out to kind of extrapolate from early voting to who you are expecting, as you say to come in on election day. Does that concern you? And if not, you know, what areas are you going to really focus on in these final hours where you feel you really need to drive up your turnout?

DESANTIS: Well, we, I think that any of those increases are outpaced by other increases. I mean, our baseline is 2016. I don't think 2014 is a very good barometer.

MACCALLUM: Right.

DESANTIS: This is going to be a significantly higher turnout than 2014. And we're already seeing it with Republicans. And so, you know, our thing is we've identified the voters we need. You know, we are trying to turn them out. I think if we do that we will win because I will get more Democrat votes than Gillum will get Republican votes.

And if you hold drawn with independents and the Republicans turnout, that's how Republicans win statewide elections in Florida. And so that's we are in track to do but we are working hard until the very final buzzer tomorrow night.

MACCALLUM: All right. The question of voters who moved from Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria to Florida, when these races are this razor tight, you know, a few thousand votes obviously could make a big difference. Do you feel like those voters are going to support you or they are going to support -- you know, you were obviously in government, in federal government as a member of Congress? Or will they lean towards Gillum on that?

DESANTIS: Well, I think it will be a mix. You know, we had the congresswoman from Puerto Rico and Orlando with us campaigning today, Jennifer Gonzalez, a good friend of mine. I've been working with her on these issues for the last two years. She's endorsed me. We had legislators from Puerto Rico coming in to endorse me and support me.

So, we are going to do very well there. But we will definitely do very well in Dade County with the Hispanics down there. So, I think all in all, you know, we are going to be very competitive with the Hispanic vote. I think we've got a good shot to win it but certainly will be neck-and-neck statewide.

MACCALLUM: All right. Congressman DeSantis, thank you. We'll be watching it all, obviously very closely from here. Good to have you with us tonight.

DESANTIS: Thank you.

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