Republican Ron DeSantis defeats Andrew Gillum in Florida gubernatorial race

Republican Ron DeSantis will defeat Democrat Andrew Gillum in the battle to be Florida’s next governor, Fox News projects.

DeSantis, 40, an Iraq War veteran, decorated military lawyer and former Florida congressman, defeated the Tallahassee mayor by a razor thin margin Tuesday night, with the two candidates neck and neck in the heated contest for the majority of the evening.

Gillum fell short in his bid to become Florida's first African-American governor. He conceded to DeSantis, who has been an outspoken supporter of President Trump, saying he still "believes in the long run, good always wins over evil."

"I still believe that," Gillum said in his concession speech.

"We could not be prouder of the way that we ran this race. We couldn't be prouder. We could not be more thankful for the support that was shown by each and every one of you. All the way along this path," Gillum said. "We let our voices be heard. We didn't shrink from the challenges. We didn't shrink from power. We spoke truth to power. And just because we didn't always come out victorious we didn't retreat. We stood up we stood strong we spoke out because we recognize that we had power."