Election 2026

Byron Donalds Offers Florida More of the MAGA Same in Governor's Race

Donalds is long on promises, short on details, and still trying to sell Ron DeSantis' culture war.

C.J. Ciaramella | 11.2.2026 1:56 PM

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Rep. Byron Donalds' (R–Fla.) closing pitch to voters in his campaign for Florida governor is the same one he's relied on his whole political career: success through affiliation. If you like President Donald Trump and current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donalds promises, you'll like him.

"The Democrats are now arguing that they want change," Donalds said at a campaign event on Sunday in Tampa. "And I look at my opponent. I look at these Democrats that are running, and I say to myself, 'Change what?' We are the best state in America."

If he wins on Tuesday, Donalds will have gone from a backbench congressman to Florida's first black governor in roughly six years, inheriting an office that has swelled in power under DeSantis. With the help of an acquiescent GOP-controlled state legislature and litigious state attorney general, DeSantis became the most powerful Florida governor in living memory.

Donalds doesn't offer detailed plans about what he would do with that accumulated power, but judging from his campaign speeches and statements, it would presumably be a continuation of DeSantis' heavy-handed brand of top-down conservative government.

"Florida hasn't happened by accident," Donalds said in a Fox Business interview last Wednesday. "This is something that has been about consistent leadership over time in our state. Gov.........

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