GOP Rep. Byron Donalds formally launches his marketing campaign for Florida governor on Friday with what’s being billed as a hometown kickoff rally.
The conservative lawmaker, who has represented Florida’s nineteenth Congressional District within the southwest a part of the state for 4 years, is at the moment the one main Republican to leap into the 2026 race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Donalds, a staunch supporter and ally of President Donald Trump, introduced his candidacy throughout an look on Fox Information’ “Hannity” late final month, days after touchdown the president’s endorsement.
Moreover, two MAGA world rock-stars – Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, and Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and commentator who leads the highly effective Turning Level USA youth group – have recorded movies for Donalds’ marketing campaign kick-off, sources inform Fox Information. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson will communicate in individual on the occasion.
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Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida, through the Conservative Political Motion Convention in Nationwide Harbor, Maryland, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
The marketing campaign occasion, in Bonita Springs, comes as Florida first girl Casey DeSantis has acknowledged she is contemplating a 2026 gubernatorial run to succeed her husband in Tallahassee.
“I think what you’ll see is a show of force and I think the support and the momentum that Bryon is generating across the state, whether it’s fundraising or grassroots support, will be evident,” veteran Republican strategist and Florida native Stephen Lawson instructed Fox Information.
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Lawson – who served as an adviser to DeSantis in addition to his predecessor in Tallahassee, former governor and present Sen. Rick Scott – emphasised that “with President Trump’s backing, Donalds is the individual to beat on this race.”
DeSantis has repeatedly touted his spouse’s accomplishments as Florida first girl and framed her as a worthy successor.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his spouse, first girl Casey DeSantis, rejoice his victory over Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Charlie Crist throughout an election night time watch occasion on the Tampa Conference Heart on Nov. 8, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Octavio Jones/Getty Photographs)
Moreover, Casey DeSantis, late final month, stoked hypothesis when requested by reporters if she would run.
“To quote the late Yogi Berra,” DeSantis mentioned as she reiterated a well-known line from the late baseball legend. “If you see a fork in the road, take it.”
The governor then quipped to reporters that “you guys can read into that what you will.”
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When requested this month on the Nationwide Assessment Institute’s Concepts Summit in Nationwide Harbor, Maryland, if she would possibly launch a marketing campaign, Casey DeSantis mentioned “we’ll see.”
Sources final month confirmed to Fox Information that the governor has been reaching out to donors on behalf of his spouse.
Casey DeSantis, Florida’s first girl, throughout a marketing campaign occasion for her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis, in Atlantic, Iowa, on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
The subsequent marketing campaign money submitting deadline within the Florida governor’s race comes on the finish of this weekend, and a supply within the congressman’s political orbit predicted to Fox Information that Donalds would “easily eclipse” the $1 million DeSantis raised in his first month as a gubernatorial candidate in his profitable 2018 marketing campaign to succeed Scott as governor.
“I think he’s going to show a really strong fundraising number,” added one other Florida-based Republican strategist, who requested to stay nameless to talk extra freely.
Donalds has been complimentary of Gov. DeSantis.
“We have a great governor,”Donalds mentioned final month in his “Hannity” interview. “Ron DeSantis has done a tremendous job for our state. But now the job is to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country. And so that’s going to be the mission at hand.”
Rep. Byron Donalds speaks contained in the Capital One enviornment at an occasion for President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
A GOP strategist who has lengthy labored on Florida races mentioned he thinks Donalds “has been really careful to be kumbaya with the governor and Casey. I think you’ve seen that from his messaging… He wants to build on the conservative record of success in Florida while also forging his own path.”
Nonetheless, the supply added that Donalds will use Friday’s marketing campaign kickoff to “put a marker down to show that this is his race to win.”
An inside ballot carried out earlier this month for Donalds’ marketing campaign indicated the congressman edging Casey DeSantis by single digits in a hypothetical GOP major showdown. Nonetheless, the survey urged that Donalds’ lead surged to greater than 20 factors when respondents had been knowledgeable that he’s supported by Trump, whose sway over the GOP is stronger than ever.
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Florida was the nation’s high common election battleground state, nevertheless it has dramatically swung to the correct prior to now couple of election cycles. DeSantis received his 2022 re-election by practically 20 factors, and Trump carried the state final November by 13 factors.
With Florida now clearly a crimson state, the winner of the Republican gubernatorial major shall be thought-about the favourite in subsequent yr’s common election.
