Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the GOP only has itself to blame for the youth’s turn toward socialism after voters 30 and under swung left during last week’s midterm elections.

The term-limited governor blamed “corporatist Republicans” who bend government toward favored industries and companies for young Americans’ negativity toward capitalism and increasingly positive outlook on socialism during an appearance on “The Sage Steele Show.”

“Young people have a very positive view of socialism compared to capitalism. The question is, why is that?” DeSantis said Wednesday — just a day after Democrats seized both chambers of Congress by overwhelming margins.

“Some of it is the education in our universities. But I think a big part of that is, what they’re comparing is not free enterprise versus socialism. What they’re comparing is how government gets involved in business, and you have crony capitalism.”

“The best kind of indirect supporters of socialism are some of these corporatist Republicans who propagate these crony policies,” he went on, arguing such individuals turn off young people.

For a Republican like himself, DeSantis said, a socialist on the ballot is an easy no. Less certain, he said, is whether the label still scandalizes “the broader electorate who aren’t as partisan.”

“If it’s cronyism versus socialism, there’s going to be enough people who are going to choose socialism,” he warned.

Tuesday’s results suggest the “socialist” label frightened few.

Republicans spent much of the cycle tying vulnerable lefty Democrats to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.

“House Republicans will make Zohran Mamdani famous in battleground races next November,” the National Republican Congressional Committee promised in an October 2025 memo, according to Axios.

By Wednesday, DeSantis had already called the elections “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country.”

On X, he predicted the Senate may stay out of GOP hands until 2032.

The results bore out his gloom. Democrats took Republican-held Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina.

In Florida, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) won the governor’s mansion by just over a point, edging Democrat David Jolly to succeed the term-limited DeSantis.

His case against cronyism predates the drubbing. In September, he told the Heartland Institute that crony capitalism has “warmed over socialism.”

Nowhere was the rout steeper than among the voters he was describing. Those under 30 went for Democratic House candidates 66% to 31%, according to a preliminary estimate from Tufts University’s CIRCLE — up from a 14-point Democratic margin in the 2024 House exit poll.