Byron Donalds, a 47-year-old congressman backed by President Donald Trump, won the Florida Republican primary this Wednesday and is now the party's candidate for the state governorship in the elections on November 3rd.
Donalds, originally from Naples in the southwest of the peninsula, received 48% of the Republican votes, a crushing advantage over his 10 rivals within the party.
The second place went to Jay Collins, the lieutenant governor of outgoing governor Ron DeSantis, who barely obtained 25% of the votes.
The victory consolidates the dominance of the Trumpist apparatus in Florida's Republican Party: Trump had endorsed Donalds in February 2025, even before he formally announced his candidacy, and the former congressman entered the election with a 49-point lead in the polls over the rest of the field.
DeSantis, restricted by the state constitution from seeking a third consecutive term, chose not to endorse any candidate during the primaries, not even his own lieutenant governor.
In November, Donalds will face off against the Democrat David Jolly, a former congressman from the Tampa Bay area who left the Republican Party in 2018 and registered as a Democrat last year, winning his primary with 61% of the votes.
The contest has a historical dimension: if Donalds wins in November, he would become the first Black governor of Florida and the first elected Black Republican governor in the history of the United States.
Upon learning of his victory, Donalds called for unity within his party and directly attacked his Democratic opponent: “It is time for the Republican Party to come together. By working together, we can make Florida more affordable and defend the Florida dream for our families, our seniors, and our youth. (...) My Democratic opponent would raise taxes, increase the cost of living, and bring the radical left Democratic agenda to the Sunshine State. Florida cannot afford the liberal David Jolly.”
The scenario is favorable for the Republicans: Florida has been governed by the party since 1999 and its legislators control a supermajority in the state Legislature, with 27 of the 40 Senate seats and 83 of the 120 in the House of Representatives.
The shift of the Hispanic vote —and particularly that of Cuban Americans— towards the Republican Party has been a key factor in this transformation, including in former Democratic strongholds like Miami-Dade.
Donalds has made his hardline stance against the Cuban regime a central focus of his campaign, describing Cuba as a "brutal and murderous communist dictatorship" and declaring on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he supports a "complete regime change in Cuba."
Jolly, for his part, presents himself as a candidate capable of attracting disenchanted independents and moderate Republicans, betting that Trump's national weariness could translate into votes in a state that has firmly shifted to the right.
The last Democrat to win the governorship of Florida was Lawton Chiles, who served from 1991 until his death in office in December 1998; since then, no candidate from the party has managed to regain that position, making Jolly's candidacy a high-stakes gamble for Democrats ahead of November 3.
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