The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Florida. Although Florida was dominated by the Democratic Party for most of its history (like most southern states), the Republican Party has rapidly gained ground in recent decades, and is now the state's dominant party. After the results of the 2022 elections, the party took control of every statewide office for the first time since Reconstruction. It controls the governorship, all state executive offices, both U.S. Senate seats, and supermajorities in its U.S. House delegation and in both houses of the state legislature. History Several of Florida's governors and U.S. senators were Republican after the American Civil War, during the Reconstruction era. Afterwards, Florida's state politics were largely dominated by Democrats until Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, which took advantage of objections to the advances of the American Civil Rights Movement. This resulted in a regional political realignment for the Southern United States. In 1967, Claude R. Kirk, Jr. was the first Republican governor elected in the state since the 19th century Reconstruction era. And after Nixon's victory in 1968, the state only voted Democratic in presidential elections in 1976 (Jimmy Carter) 1996 (Bill Clinton), 2008 and 2012 (Barack Obama). The 2000 presidential election was decided by a margin of 537 votes out of approximately 6 million cast, giving George W. Bush the presidency over Al Gore. The Florida Senate was still dominated by Democrats until 1992, when a majority of Republicans was elected. The Florida House of Representatives turned Republican after the November 1996 election. Since then, the number of Democrats in both chambers have continued to drop. The Florida Legislature became the first legislature in any of the states of the former Confederacy to come under complete Republican control when the Republicans gained control of the House and Senate in the 1996 election. However, in the 2006 election the Democrats actually gained seats in the State House, the first instance of this occurring since the early 1980s. Current structure and composition In the 2014 election, the Republican nominee for Governor was Governor of Florida Rick Scott. He defeated the Democratic nominee, who was the Former Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist who was once elected as a Republican. The current Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida is Christian Ziegler by RPOF members in February 2023. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is