U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds has announced his intent to run for Florida Governor in the 2026 election, making him the first major Republican to declare their candidacy. Donalds has represented Florida’s 19th congressional district (Fort Myers, Naples) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021, and before that he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020.
“For a long time I’ve been in the trenches in a lot of these battles dealing with conservatism,” Donalds said in an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on Tuesday. “I have a long history in the conservative movement, and I have one of the strongest conservative records both in the state House and up here in Congress.”
Byron Donalds in Washington
Despite being relatively new in Washington, the 46-year-old Donalds has already made a name for himself in more ways than one. He received several nominations for Speaker of the House in 2023 during two separate voting processes, ultimately falling short of Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson respectively. Alongside 146 other Republican lawmakers, Donalds voted against the certification of the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, later saying he did not believe Joe Biden was the legitimately elected president.
Already Donalds has one major advantage over any potential Republican primary challengers: the approval of the sitting president. Donalds announced alongside his own entry that he’d already secured the endorsement of President Donald Trump. In April 2023 he surprised many when he endorsed Trump over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, breaking a close alliance the two had seemingly enjoyed for years. Donalds was even rumored to be the stand-in for Democrat Andrew Gillum during DeSantis’ 2018 election debate prep. The incumbent governor is barred from running for a third term in office by Florida’s term limit laws. The current governor made a run at the Republican nomination for president in 2024 before falling well behind Trump during primaries.
Icy Relations with Ron DeSantis
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis may be Donalds’ toughest competition. ⓒ Casey DeSantis on X
DeSantis has not only not endorsed Donalds but has already taken a veiled shot at him. “He just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the left these last few years,” DeSantis said Monday. “He’s just not been a part of it. He’s been in other states campaigning, doing that, and that’s fine. But okay, well then deliver results up there.”
Further dividing the two politicians has been speculation from some political commentators that Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis may be considering a bid of her own. “I won by the biggest margin that any Republican’s ever won a governor’s race here in Florida,” DeSantis continued. “[Casey] would do better than me. Like, there’s no question about that. That would happen.”
The Rest of the Potential Republican Field
Also mulling a prospective bid for governor is Matt Gaetz, the former representative for Florida’s 1st congressional district who was briefly Trump’s nominee for Attorney General. Gaetz has not formalized a bid yet, but has said it’s on his mind. Also on the radar to run are current Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. Even then, those candidates would have an uphill battle to contend with Donalds if recent polling is any indication.
“In a hypothetical Republican primary election with Donalds, Simpson, Nuñez, and Suarez, Donalds is the clear leader,” said pollster Ben Galbraith after a January Victory Insights poll placed Donalds at 31.3% where no other candidate exceeded 4.4%. Still, over six tenths of respondents in the poll indicated that they were undecided.
Byron Donalds’ Background
Donalds was born in Brooklyn in 1978, growing up in the Crown Heights neighborhood. He attended Nazareth Regional High School and later Florida A&M University and then Florida State University. He had a career in finance until his first electoral success in 2016, and was a member of the Democratic Party until 2010 when he switched to Republican and joined up with the Tea Party movement. If elected, Donalds would be the first person of color to hold office as Florida Governor.
As far back as 2016, before being elected himself, Donalds was a featured speaker at Donald Trump’s presidential rallies. The political alliance between the two has only grown stronger in the years that followed. Donalds’ choice to endorse Trump while DeSantis’ presidential campaign was still seen as viable helped spark a sea change for Florida Republicans from one candidate to the other. Along with Senator Marco Rubio and eventual running mate JD Vance, Donalds was reported to be among Trump’s shortlist picks to join him on the 2024 presidential ticket.
