As Trump prepares Mar-a-Lago announcement, DeSantis calls election night 'underwhelming' and 'disappointing' for Republicans but tells people to 'check out the scoreboard' in Florida

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn't directly talk about Trump throwing fire his way when asked about it. 
• But the Republican governor did take a victory lap over his historic win, saying Florida can lead.
• Trump is expected to announce a White House run on Tuesday evening. 

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida brushed off the attacks former President Donald Trump has thrown his way on Tuesday, calling them "overdone" by the press while also taking a victory lap over his resounding victory in his home state. 

DeSantis called Election Day a "hugely underwhelming, disappointing performance" for the Republican Party, but added that Florida "shows the blueprint of what you can to do not only win, but really fundamentally change the overall political terrain in a very strong, pro-freedom direction."

Reporters at a press conference in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, had asked DeSantis what he thought about Trump's forthcoming announcement at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.

Trump is expected to make a third consecutive White House run official on Tuesday night, but has also been complaining to reporters and on his social media platform, Truth Social, that DeSantis hasn't been sufficiently loyal to him — particularly if he chooses to challenge Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.  

Trump endorsed DeSantis for governor in 2018, catapulting him to the top of the nomination. That year, DeSantis won by only half a percentage point. This year, without Trump's endorsement, DeSantis won his reelection by nearly 20 points in Florida. 

DeSantis hasn't said whether he'll serve out all four years as governor and hasn't criticized Trump in return. On Tuesday, he didn't directly answer the question about Trump's announcement, and instead said "some of this stuff gets overdone." He also accused the media of "constantly attacking" him.  "When you're getting things done you take incoming fire," he said. 

"I don't think any governor got attacked more, particularly by corporate media, than me over my four-year term," DeSantis added. "And yet I think what you learn is all that is just noise. Really what matters is: Are you leading? Are you getting in front of issues? Are you delivering results for people and are you standing up for folks? If you do that none of that stuff matters." 

The "red wave" that failed to materialize across the US happened in Florida, with DeSantis winning what had once been thought of as a swing state by 1.5 million votes. Republicans now hold a super-majority in the legislature, and they won support from Hispanics, women, and Independent voters.

"The good policies and the good leadership can reverberate just beyond your little silo of people that agree with you on everything," he said. "We had people coming out to vote for us who may not have voted for Republicans in the past. I think that ultimately is the way forward." 

DeSantis credited his victory to people seeing that he was "able to deliver results." 

"I would tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night," DeSantis said. "It was the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida."