President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate for Florida governor cruised to victory Tuesday night, setting up a general election fight against a former Republican who abandoned the party and later became a Democrat. Republican Rep. Byron Donalds defeated a crowded field to win the GOP nomination in the race to succeed term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis. He will face former Rep. David Jolly, who secured the Democratic nomination after spending much of his political career as a Republican. The two will compete in the November 3rd general election.
The contest will determine who follows DeSantis after two terms and whether Republicans extend their decades-long hold on the Florida governor’s mansion. Donalds entered the primary with Trump’s endorsement and maintained a commanding advantage despite challenges from Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner and investment firm founder James Fishback. DeSantis declined to endorse a candidate, though Collins had served as one of his allies before being appointed lieutenant governor.
Donalds’ victory ended a combative Republican primary in which Fishback built an online following through personal attacks and allegations against the frontrunner. Collins, a former Green Beret selected as lieutenant governor in 2025, emerged as Donalds’ closest competitor but remained well behind him when votes were counted. Donalds quickly turned away from the primary disputes and called for Republicans to unite behind the party’s ticket.
The Daily Caller reported that Donalds held approximately 49% of the vote while results were still being tabulated, with Collins in second place and Fishback receiving roughly 10%. Later tallies placed Donalds at 47.8% with 99% of the expected vote counted, while Jolly captured approximately 61% on the Democratic side. Donalds said Renner and Fishback had called to congratulate him following the race. “Tonight, the primary is over. Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican party,” he told supporters.
Jolly’s nomination gives Florida Democrats another former Republican as their candidate for governor. He represented Florida’s 13th Congressional District as a Republican from 2014 until 2017, left the GOP in 2018 and spent several years as an independent before formally becoming a Democrat in 2025. His break with Republicans grew out of his longstanding opposition to Trump, which began during Trump’s first presidential campaign and eventually turned Jolly into a regular anti-Trump television commentator.
Donalds has already moved to define Jolly by that record rather than by the moderate image the Democrat has attempted to present during the campaign. When Jolly entered the race in 2025, Donalds described him as an “anti-Trump, radical leftist” and accused him of supporting higher taxes, weaker immigration enforcement, gun restrictions and the elimination of school-choice policies. Jolly has instead centered his campaign on affordability and argued that Florida Republicans have concentrated too heavily on cultural disputes.
Florida Democrats face a difficult electoral history heading into November. The Associated Press reported that this is the second consecutive election in which the party has nominated a former Republican for governor. Democrats selected former Republican Governor Charlie Crist in 2022, only for DeSantis to defeat him by nearly 20 points. Florida has not elected a Democratic governor since Lawton Chiles won his final term in 1994.
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Donalds now enters the general election with Trump’s backing, a unified Republican nomination and the political advantage Republicans have built across Florida during the past several election cycles. Jolly will attempt to assemble Democrats, independents and anti-Trump former Republicans while distancing himself from the state party’s recent statewide defeats. If Donalds prevails on November 3rd, he will become Florida’s first Black governor.