U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for Florida governor and former Rep. David Jolly picked up the Democratic nod in primary elections Tuesday, setting the stage for a fall campaign to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis and decide the state's future political direction.
Tuesday’s primaries gave final shape to a November ballot that will test President Donald Trump’s grip on his adopted state and Democrats’ ability to resurrect Florida as a national political battleground.
Florida has moved notably to the right since Trump's first election win in 2016, though Democrats hope to regain ground from his slumping popularity ratings.
DeSantis, a leading conservative figure who has clashed and collaborated with Trump over the years, is barred from running for a third consecutive term after more than seven years in office.
Donalds banked on Trump ’s endorsement Tuesday and hopes the president's backing will help him in November as he makes the case why he should be elected Florida's first Black governor. He defeated a former DeSantis running mate, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, political newcomer James Fishback and others Tuesday.
Collins, in a statement, congratulated Donalds on his win and pledged "to continue fighting like hell to ensure we remain the free state of Florida in November."
The 47-year-old congressman Donalds told his supporters at a Universal Studios resort hotel that he’d heard from GOP rivals who pledged their help in winning the general election.
“The primary is over,” Donalds said. “Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican Party.”
Donalds is trying to make history — and Jolly, too
There have been three elected Black governors in U.S. history. Yet the 47-year-old Donalds is more likely to tout his conservative credentials than the possibility of joining that select group as campaigning opens for November. He has promised to push tax cuts, overhaul Florida's insurance regulations to lower consumer costs and seek greater price transparency from healthcare providers.
Donalds talked Tuesday night of the economic struggles he and his wife Erica had when they were newly married. And while he ran with Trump’s endorsement, he has emphasized talk of Floridians’ economic hardships without blaming the president, saying he wants a state where people “can give your kids a better shot than you have.”
Meanwhile, Jolly is hoping to prove a party-switching former Republican can actually carry the Democratic banner in a state where that's failed before.
Democrats nominated former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist in 2022 only to see him lose by nearly 20 percentage points to DeSantis.
