Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t mince words: Election night would have been an “extinction-level event” for Republicans if it weren’t for Florida.

He spoke hours after the results from Tuesday’s blue tsunami rolled in: Democrats took control of the U.S. House and Senate, wiped out all top Republicans in Texas — the GOP’s “crown jewel” — and made gains in strongholds like Mississippi, Ohio and Alabama.

Of the 10 largest states, Florida is the only one still under Republican control. It’s the “last main anchor standing,” DeSantis added.

“To call it a wave I don’t think would be fully accurate. It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike,” DeSantis said from the state Capitol. “This is probably the political worst-case scenario for a midterm election.”

DeSantis struck a harshly candid tone during his 40-minute news conference, reflecting on the fleeting nature of politics and acknowledging that even Florida only did well because of its massive GOP base — one that the governor took credit for helping construct throughout his tenure.

He appeared at ease, joking that he was on “lame duck duty” now that U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is governor-elect. He added that he would defer to the Legislature on when to call a special session to implement his prized referendum to slash property taxes.

Called Amendment 3, it received resounding support; so much so that DeSantis credited the proposal with driving out just enough of the GOP’s voter base to keep all statewide elected officials Republican.

Still, it wasn’t enough to stave off all blue impacts in Florida. Seventeen of the state’s legislative seats were flipped Democratic, shattering Republicans’ long-held supermajority.

DeSantis’ thoughts on what went wrong

So why did Republicans suffer such casualties nationwide? DeSantis had a few theories.

Aside from the party in power traditionally doing poorly in a midterm year, DeSantis speculated that brutal affordability gaps, too much focus on culture war issues and successful Democratic advertisements were largely to blame.

He said the results were a rejection of Republicans in Washington, D.C. — not an endorsement of Democrats, evidenced by conservative ballot measures passing in states awash in Tuesday’s blue.

Millions spent on ads targeting culture war issues like transgender athletes instead of kitchen table issues like gas prices and inflation were also damaging, DeSantis said.

“They really were fighting yesterday’s battles,” he added. He said while he pushed for legislation like keeping transgender athletes out of women’s sports, it’s not a top issue for voters staring down $4 gas prices.

Democrats, meanwhile, hit Republicans hard over things like trading stocks in office or voting to keep the Jeffrey Epstein files secret.

“When the attorney general (Pam Bondi) said she had all this horrific stuff on her desk, and that people were going to be held accountable, it’s untenable,” DeSantis said. It was a “bad vote” to not release the files, he said.

“Those ads hitting those congresspeople, I thought they were devastating ads,” he continued, calling the Republicans “flat-footed” and unable to come up with a “positive case for themselves.”

DeSantis ended his news conference with a warning: nothing in politics is guaranteed.

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