Florida has not elected a Democrat to governor since 1994.
Rep. Byron Donalds has won the GOP primary in the Florida gubernatorial race against candidates Jams Fishback, Paul Renner, and Jay Collins after being highly favored to win the race.
The race for Donalds was called at around 8 pm by the AP after polls closed at 7pm. Florida has not elected a Democrat to governor since 1994, and DeSantis has outperformed other elected Republicans in terms of his popularity, turning what was once thought to be a swing state to be solidly Republican.
Donalds received Trump’s endorsement in February 2025 before the lawmaker had even declared his candidacy. Prior to him becoming the frontrunner in the race, there was speculation that Ron DeSantis’ wife, Casey DeSantis, would be in the running, but her candidacy did not materialize.
Fishback, who has led a campaign with much of his material being aimed at being a provocateur instead of a candidate, did not mount much of a challenge to Donalds in the race despite the attention-grabbing posts, including one where he stated: “Byron Donalds is Black. My new ad.”
Aside from Florida’s first lady, there were a few other potential candidates that some thought could have entered the race such as Sen. Ashely Moody and former Rep. Matt Gaetz but they ultimately chose not to.
When Fishback was asked by Politico if he was willing to back Donalds if the GOP lawmaker won the primary, he insisted that he was going to win, and said, “What I’m going to do is I am going to unite the Republican Party as the nominee. I have never, and I will never, vote for a Democrat, and this will not be the exception.”
Collins, a former Green Beret, and Renner, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, were not able to break out in polling ahead of the election against Donalds.
