(CN) - Buoyed by the support of President Donald Trump and unprecedented turnout, Republicans narrowly won Florida's top statewide offices on Tuesday.
Former congressman Ron DeSantis will serve as governor as outgoing Gov. Rick Scott heads to the U.S. Senate.
The races showed deep divides of the electorate in this swingiest of swing states. The state's election season mirrored the mood nationally with record-breaking fundraising, massive voter turnout, relentless negative campaigning and the looming presence of Trump.
Florida Democrats hoped for a blue wave, but instead found themselves narrowly bested by Republicans aligned with the president.
Scott's win over three-term incumbent Bill Nelson helps cement Republican's control of the Senate.
Republican Ron DeSantis, a Trump acolyte who largely campaigned on national issues, narrowly eked out a win by an estimated 80,000 votes. He held his celebration in an Orlando hotel ballroom.
By contrast, Democrat Andrew Gillum conceded the governor's race to hundreds of supporters gathered outside on the campus of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically black university in Tallahassee.
"We didn't win this transaction tonight," said Gillum, the city's mayor and a FAMU alumnus. "And it is a transaction, because what we believe in still holds true today."
"I want to encourage you not to give up," he said. "I still plan to be on the front lines along with every single one of you."
Despite fierce thunderstorms earlier in the evening that sent supporters and press scrambling for cover, Gillum's supporters remained positive throughout the night.
Terry McQueen, a 20-year-old attending FAMU, sported an "I voted" sticker as he walked into Gillum's event with a group of friends.
"He's a rattler," McQueen said, referring to the school's mascot. "He's black. He has the power and the platform to be the first black governor of Florida."
McQueen's main issue was Gillum's promise to raise wages for teachers across the state.
"As the child of an educator, I have no reason not to stand for that," he said. "As someone studying to become an educator myself, I have no reason not to stand for that."
McQueen allowed for the possibility of a Gillum loss.
"If it doesn't happen, at least he tried," he said.
Heather Chapman and Tracy Merlin, who traveled six hours to attend the event, said they would not be deterred by Gillum's loss. The two said their activism will continue.
"It will only amplify," said Merlin, a teacher in Broward County.
"I need state mandates that are funded," she said, referring to the need to adequately fund education in the state. "We've had 20 years of unfunded mandates."
"We hold our politicians accountable," Chapman added. "We go to D.C. and Tallahassee … Personally I'm going to be at the school board meetings."
Chapman became heavily-involved after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which her daughter attends.
"For me, the main thing is to keep the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act," Chapman said, referring to the school safety bill passed after the shooting.
She met Gillum personally and asked him to keep the legislation and maybe improve on it. He agreed, she said.
"From then on, I was sold," she said.
In contrast to the heavy rain in North Florida, Miami voters headed to the polls in sunshine.