ع
Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds defeated Democrat David Jolly in Florida’s gubernatorial election, according to projections by the Associated Press that multiple outlets including Axios and Bloomberg carried. With 99 percent of votes counted, the Florida Department of State Division of Elections placed Donalds and running mate Bryan Avila at 4,131,777 votes, or 50.02 percent, against Jolly and Gwen Graham’s 4,023,425 votes, or 48.71 percent, with minor-party candidates taking the remainder. The margin of roughly 108,000 votes marked a far tighter contest than Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ nearly 20-point reelection win in 2022. Donalds will succeed DeSantis, who was term-limited, when the new administration takes office in January.
Donalds, who has represented Southwest Florida in Congress since 2021, benefited from an early endorsement by President Donald Trump and a substantial fundraising edge, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Campaign records showed Donalds raised more than $170 million while Jolly raised less than $30 million. Trump appeared with Donalds at rallies in the campaign’s final stretch, and the president was among the first to congratulate the winner on election night. The governor-elect had secured the Republican nomination despite initial reservations from DeSantis, according to Axios.
In his victory speech at a gathering in Broward County, Donalds said, “This might be the shortest speech I’ve given on the campaign trail but it doesn’t need to be long. Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we work, and over the next four years we’re going to take Florida to a whole new level.” He recounted a phone conversation with Trump in which he stated, “Mr. President, I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red.” The address made little mention of the historic nature of the win, the Tampa Bay Times noted, even as it positioned Donalds as the first Black governor in the state’s 180-year history and the first Black Republican elected to lead any U.S. state.
Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Pinellas County who switched parties, had hoped to end 32 years without a Democratic governor since Lawton Chiles last won the office in 1994. Speaking at his watch party in Tampa, Jolly described the narrow loss as a sign that Florida remains competitive, according to the Florida Phoenix. His campaign focused on rising housing and insurance costs, yet it struggled against Donalds’ financial advantage and the state’s voter registration edge, where Republicans lead Democrats by about 1.5 million, Bloomberg data showed.
Donalds’ background includes service in the Florida Legislature, where he backed criminal justice measures such as raising the felony theft threshold from $300 to $750, an Axios review of his record found. He has vowed to continue conservative priorities including school choice, gun rights and immigration enforcement while building on what he termed the DeSantis-era successes. The victory occurred even as Democrats secured majorities in both chambers of Congress nationally in the 2026 midterms, the BBC reported.
Republicans held other statewide offices on the ballot, including the Senate seat won by Ashley Moody, according to election night tallies. The results reinforce Florida’s transformation into a reliably Republican state at the presidential and gubernatorial levels over the past decade. Donalds assumes office amid ongoing debates over property taxes and cost-of-living issues that featured prominently in the campaign.
