TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Aug 18 – U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for Florida governor on Tuesday, while former Rep. David Jolly captured the Democratic nomination, setting up a closely watched November contest to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The results put two politicians with very different political histories on a statewide stage. Donalds, a prominent Republican ally of President Donald Trump, is seeking to extend the conservative direction Florida has followed in recent years. Jolly, a former Republican congressman who switched parties, is offering Democrats a more centrist alternative as the party tries to rebuild its strength in a state that has steadily moved toward the GOP.
The November election will be closely watched beyond Florida. It will offer an important test of Trump’s influence in a state that he has made his political home, while also giving Democrats an opportunity to determine whether their recent struggles in Florida can be reversed.
DeSantis cannot seek a third consecutive term, leaving Florida’s governor’s mansion open for the first time in years. The contest will therefore help determine whether his conservative political legacy remains firmly in place or whether voters are prepared to move the state in a different direction.
Byron Donalds Emerges From Crowded Republican Field
Donalds, 47, prevailed over a Republican field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, political newcomer James Fishback and several other candidates. His victory was significant not only because of the crowded primary but also because of the national political backing behind his campaign.
Trump had endorsed Donalds, making the race another test of the president’s ability to shape Republican nominations. Donalds has embraced Trump’s political agenda while maintaining that an endorsement, even from a president with a powerful following among Republican voters, cannot substitute for a campaign’s own organization and message.
Speaking to supporters at a Universal Studios resort hotel after the primary, Donalds emphasized party unity and called on Republicans to put the primary contest behind them.
“The primary is over,” Donalds said. “Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican Party.”
His remarks reflected the challenge facing the Republican nominee. The primary campaign featured sharp disagreements among candidates, but Donalds will now need support from voters across the Republican coalition as he prepares for the November election.
Donalds has presented his campaign around economic issues and the cost of living. He has pledged to pursue tax cuts, change Florida’s insurance regulations in an effort to reduce costs for consumers and increase price transparency in the health care system.
If elected, Donalds would make history as Florida’s first Black governor. His candidacy therefore carries both political and historic significance as Republicans prepare to defend their dominant position in the state.
Florida has undergone a major political transformation over the past decade. Once considered one of the country’s most competitive battlegrounds, the state has moved considerably to the right since Trump’s 2016 presidential victory. Republicans have strengthened their position in statewide elections, while Democrats have struggled to regain the voters and constituencies that once made Florida a regular target for both parties.
The governor’s race will show whether that Republican advantage remains as strong heading into the November midterms.
David Jolly Offers Democrats a Different Path
Jolly’s nomination gives Florida Democrats a candidate with an unusual political background. He represented Florida in Congress as a Republican before leaving the party and becoming a Democrat last year.
Rather than attempting to hide that history, Jolly has made it part of his political identity. His campaign has sought to appeal to voters who may not identify strongly with either party and who are frustrated with increasingly bitter political divisions.
Addressing supporters after his victory Tuesday, Jolly thanked Democrats for accepting him into the party.
“To my Democratic friends, thank you for welcoming me into the party,” he said.
Jolly has described his political approach as one that combines elements traditionally associated with both parties. He has spoken in favor of capitalism and limited government while arguing that government still has a responsibility to address gaps in education, housing and other areas.
He has also criticized the culture-war politics that have become increasingly prominent in Florida and nationally. Jolly has argued that government should have a limited role in people’s private lives, a position he says reflects the old-school Republican and libertarian principles he once embraced.
The choice of Jolly marks the second consecutive Florida gubernatorial election in which Democrats have nominated a former Republican. In 2022, Democrats nominated former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who ultimately lost to DeSantis by nearly 20% points.
Jolly will therefore enter the general election facing a difficult political landscape. Still, Democrats are hoping that changes in the national political environment and concerns about affordability can make Florida more competitive.
Some voters who supported Jolly in Tuesday’s primary said his history as a Republican was not necessarily a disadvantage.
Rich Chamberlin, a retiree in Port St. Lucie, said campaign advertising attacking Jolly actually encouraged him to support him.
“I saw anti-Jolly ads. I said, ‘OK, if they are against him, then I must be for him,'” Chamberlin said.
That kind of crossover appeal could become important for Jolly in November, particularly if he hopes to attract independents and moderate Republicans in addition to the Democratic base.
Senate Race and House Results Add to Florida’s Political Shake-Up
The governor’s contest was not the only major Florida race decided Tuesday.
State Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for a special U.S. Senate election, defeating retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. Nixon will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November for the final two years of former Sen. Marco Rubio’s term.
Rubio left the Senate after becoming Trump’s secretary of state last year. Moody, a former Florida attorney general, was appointed to the Senate seat by DeSantis and won the Republican nomination Tuesday.
Nixon’s victory was one of the night’s biggest surprises. She defeated Vindman, a former National Security Council official who became nationally known after testifying during Trump’s first impeachment proceedings in 2019.
The Senate contest will give Florida voters another clear choice between competing political visions. Nixon is a progressive state lawmaker, while Moody enters the general election as a Republican incumbent seeking to retain a seat that Democrats have not won in a statewide Senate election since 2012.
If Nixon wins in November, she would become Florida’s first Black U.S. senator.
The congressional results also produced a major upset. Republican Rep. Cory Mills lost his primary in Florida’s 7th Congressional District to former television news reporter Ryan Elijah.
Mills, a two-term congressman, had faced a series of controversies and allegations that he has denied. His support within the state’s Republican establishment had weakened before the primary, and DeSantis did not support his reelection effort. Mills also was absent from Trump’s final list of Florida endorsements.
Elijah now moves toward the general election in a district considered reliably Republican.
In South Florida, longtime Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the nomination in a redrawn congressional district that has a plurality Black electorate. She defeated former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and several other Democratic candidates.
The race had attracted particular attention because of the district’s new boundaries and debate over whether it should be represented by a Black candidate. Wasserman Schultz, who has served in Congress since 2005, argued that her experience would allow her to effectively represent the district.
Cherfilus-McCormick had been seeking a return to Congress after resigning earlier this year amid a federal indictment and potential House ethics sanctions.
The congressional results, combined with the gubernatorial and Senate contests, underscored the political changes underway in Florida.
The state’s November elections will now feature a Republican gubernatorial nominee closely aligned with Trump against a former Republican running as a Democrat, while the Senate contest pits a progressive Democratic nominee against a Republican senator seeking to hold onto an appointed seat.
For Donalds, the challenge is to preserve the Republican coalition that has dominated Florida politics while demonstrating that his campaign can stand on its own beyond Trump’s endorsement. For Jolly, the task is even more difficult, as he attempts to persuade Florida voters that the state is not as politically settled as recent elections have suggested.
The outcome in November will determine more than who occupies the governor’s mansion. It could provide an early indication of whether Florida remains one of the Republican Party’s strongest states or begins moving back toward the competitive political territory it once occupied.