Blaise Ingoglia says if he's made Republican Party of Florida chairman once more, he plans on ending any possibility of Democrats winning Florida ever again.
On Thursday, Ingoglia debuted a new project to bring continuous victory to Republicans in the Sunshine State. Dubbed "Project Majority Red," the aspirational goal aims to make the state GOP surpass Democrats in voter registration and to continue the party's winning streak from here on out.
Democrats have a 300,000 voter registration advantage, but that number has begun to diminish over the last two years. In 2014, Dems had a 500,000 edge over the GOP in Florida.
Florida has long been known as a "purple state," partially for registration numbers favoring Democrats and elections recently favoring Republicans.
"The time has come for that to change," Ingoglia said in a statement.
The Spring Hill Republican, who has held the state party's top job since January 2015, won't be in the mission alone.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is also putting funding into the program along with other donors who will push an aggressive voter registration program. Other donors are rumored to be among be top statewide donors, though some did not contribute to this year's campaign pool.
"they are very interested now," said Ingoglia of the project's backers.
Ingoglia shook off the naysayers who might deem the registration a mountain too high to climb. The party, he said, is saddled up and ready to begin its ascent.
"Many people laughed at us when we announced "'Project 29,' almost 2 years before the election," Ingoglia said on the party's goal to turn the state red in the 2016 presidential election. "I promise you, if we work hard and work together, they will not laugh at us when we turn the great State of Florida Majority Red."
Ingoglia has been working an intense PR campaign in recent weeks, reeling out endorsements left and right from grassroots activists to established politicians like future Sen. President Bill Galvano, U.S. Sen. Rubio and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.
Florida Republicans saw waves of success under Ingoglia's leadership. This year, they not only gained an edge over Democrats in both the House and the Senate, but Florida turned red, giving President-elect Donald Trump a crucial 29 electoral votes to win his campaign in November.
Republicans also saw a higher return percentage in absentee ballots in 2016 than they had seen in 2012, with an 85 percent return rate -- an increase of four percent.
"Instead of wasting millions of dollars on some ineffective GOTV plans, we worked smarter and more efficiently and it showed," Ingoglia said.
Challenging Ingoglia is Sarasota Republican Committeeman Christian Ziegler, a young face in Florida politics who got his start working with U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan.
Ziegler announced his candidacy before Ingoglia and has been traveling the state to meet with committeemen and women to try and wrangle votes from Ingoglia.
The Sarasota Republican challenged Ingoglia to a debate before the election, but said he has not received a response from Ingoglia. With a week left until the election, it's uncertain where, when or if a debate would actually take place.
Ingoglia said it was full speed ahead to continue the momentum he has built over the last two years.
"I'm not letting my foot off the gas pedal," he told SSN.
SSN contacted Ziegler but had not received a response at the time of this article's release.
The election will be held Jan. 14 in Orlando.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
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