Rep. Byron Donalds has won Florida’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first Black politician elected governor in the state’s history and the first Black Republican ever elected governor in the United States, according to a Fox News Decision Desk projection Tuesday.
Donalds, a three-term congressman from southwest Florida, defeated former Democratic Rep. David Jolly in a close contest to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as leader of the nation’s third most populous state.
The win cements Donalds’ standing as one of President Donald Trump’s top allies in the House and a figure with an increasingly national profile within the conservative movement. Trump endorsed Donalds in February of last year, before Donalds had even formally entered the race. Donalds announced his candidacy during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
Continuity with DeSantis’ conservative record was central to Donalds’ pitch to voters. Earlier this year, he told Fox News Digital, “The people of Florida love the trajectory set by Governor DeSantis. We’re going to maintain that trajectory, and we’re going to build it and take Florida to a whole new level.”
With Trump’s backing, Donalds captured nearly half the vote in Florida’s August Republican primary, besting a field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, and business executive James Fishback. His campaign drew attention in late September when references to Trump were quietly removed from his campaign website, a move that came as Trump’s approval ratings continued to slide nationally.
Donalds, originally from New York City, moved to Florida for college and worked in finance, insurance and banking before entering politics. Once a Democrat, he switched to the Republican Party in 2010 amid the rise of the Tea Party. He was elected to the Florida House in 2016 and served two terms before winning a seat in Congress.
Jolly, a Florida native, previously served as a top advisor to the late Rep. Bill Young and worked as a lawyer and lobbyist before winning a special congressional election in March 2014. He won a full term later that year but lost re-election in 2016. After leaving office, Jolly became a vocal critic of Trump and a cable news commentator. He left the Republican Party in 2018 and registered as a Democrat last year ahead of launching his gubernatorial bid.
The campaign grew combative in its closing weeks. Donalds repeatedly accused Jolly of embracing “radical socialism.” Jolly rejected the characterization, telling Fox News two weeks before the election, “Byron Donalds is a liar. I’ve condemned socialism in the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] hundreds of times, and he knows that.”
Florida was once among the nation’s premier general-election battlegrounds, but it has moved steadily rightward over the past decade. DeSantis won re-election in 2022 by nearly 20 points, and Trump carried the state by 13 points in his 2024 presidential victory. Republicans currently hold roughly a 1.5 million voter registration advantage over Democrats statewide. Still, a difficult political environment for the GOP nationally had made Democrats more competitive in Florida than they have been in recent cycles.
