Byron Donalds wins Florida race, set to become first Black governor

Republican Byron Donalds has defeated Democrat David Jolly in Florida’s governor’s race, putting him on course to become the state’s first Black governor. The Associated Press called the closely watched contest for Donalds, who will succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis will be termed out of office in January, The Guardian reported.

Donalds, 48, won with the backing of President Donald Trump and DeSantis. He campaigned on affordability, including inflation, housing and insurance costs, while promising to continue DeSantis’s conservative policies. Donalds described his campaign as “a continuation of the DeSantis-era of success” and warned that Jolly wanted “to undo what Ron DeSantis built,” The Guardian reported.

Jolly, 54, also made the cost of living central to his campaign, focusing on housing, inflation and gas prices. “I’ll fight to lower costs, and always put you first,” he told voters in his final television and social media advertising, according to The Guardian. He ran under a “believe in better” slogan, NPR reported.

The race unfolded as Republicans faced growing dissatisfaction with Trump over gas prices and the war with Iran, according to NPR. The Guardian reported that Trump appeared with Donalds at rallies in Fort Myers and Daytona Beach in the campaign’s closing days, despite concern that the president’s nationwide unpopularity over the war and the cost of living could erode Republican support.

Earlier in the campaign, Donalds had appeared to put some distance between himself and Trump. NPR reported that, in September, he removed prominent displays of Trump’s name from his campaign website. Trump had endorsed Donalds after Donalds backed him early in the 2024 presidential race.

Several polls showed a close contest that favored Donalds through much of the campaign, NPR reported. Florida has about 1.5 million more registered Republicans than Democrats and 3.3 million unaffiliated voters, according to NPR.

Donalds spent much of his career in finance and served two terms each in Congress and the Florida House. He was previously a Democrat and left the party in 2010, NPR reported. Jolly also served in Congress as a Republican. He left that party in 2018, registered without a party and became a Democrat last year. Much of his career has been spent as a lawyer, lobbyist and television political analyst, according to NPR.

Jolly criticized Donalds over campaign contributions from data-center industry figures, calling him “data center Donalds.” NPR reported that Donalds introduced legislation this summer that would require data centers to generate their own power and water.

National figures campaigned for Jolly as well. Former President Bill Clinton headlined a fundraiser that brought in $3 million for his campaign, and former President Barack Obama endorsed him, The Guardian reported.

Donalds will take office amid persistent concern about living costs. Almost 70% of respondents in a September poll cited economic pressures and housing affordability as their top concern, according to The Guardian. The outlet also reported that Republican leaders in the state House and Senate have signaled they want greater independence after years in which a Republican supermajority backed nearly every DeSantis initiative.