Trump-backed Byron Donalds cruises to Florida GOP nomination for governor

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 18, 2026 – While Alaska still waits for polls to close and votes to be tallied, Trump-endorsed US Rep. Byron Donalds decisively won Florida’s Republican primary for governor Tuesday. He easily bested a crowded field. advancing to a November showdown with former Republican congressman David Jolly.

Donalds captured 47.9% of the Republican vote, according to unofficial election-night results. That was nearly twice the 25.1% received by his closest rival, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.

James Fishback finished a distant third with 10.5%, followed by former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner with 8.5%. Seven other Republican candidates divided the remainder of the vote.

The victory reinforced President Donald Trump’s influence over Republican politics in his home state. Trump endorsed Donalds before the congressman formally entered the race and remained firmly behind him throughout the primary.

Donalds, 47, has represented Florida’s 19th Congressional District since 2021. The district covers much of Southwest Florida, including Naples, Fort Myers and Cape Coral. Before entering Congress, he served in the Florida House of Representatives and worked in banking, finance and insurance.

The Alaska connection is that Byron Donalds has endorsed Bernadette Wilson for Alaska governor.

“Congratulations to Byron Donalds on his primary victory. He has the vision, experience, and the right plan for lowering costs, protecting law and order, and defending the American Dream,” Republican Governors Association Chairman and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said Tuesday. “Hardworking families and the next generation of Floridians have a fighter on their side in Donalds.”

Donalds will face Jolly, who won the Democratic nomination with 61% of the vote.

Jolly easily defeated five Democratic rivals. Dayna Marie Foster placed second with 15.1%, while Dotie Joseph received 9.6% and Evelyn Castillo-Bach finished with 7.8%.

Jolly represented Florida in the U.S. House from 2014 to 2017 as a Republican. He later left the GOP, joined the centrist Forward Party and became a Democrat in 2025. He has sought to present himself as a moderate who would move Florida away from political and cultural battles.

Republicans are already working to define him differently.

“Democrats continue to prove they can’t gain ground in Florida with David Jolly campaigning as a so-called moderate while voters know he’s just another career politician they can’t trust,” Gianforte said. “From switching parties to promoting far-left woke policies like irreversible gender transition surgeries for minors, Florida voters will reject Jolly in November.”

Donalds campaigned as a conservative successor to term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, emphasizing affordability, property-tax relief, public safety, parental rights and continued implementation of Trump’s America First agenda.

He largely ignored his Republican opponents during the closing stretch of the primary and directed much of his attention toward Jolly, signaling that his campaign viewed the nomination as all but secured.

Donalds received 799,723 votes Tuesday. Collins finished with 419,465, leaving Donalds with a victory margin of more than 380,000 votes.

Jolly received 747,630 votes in the Democratic primary, more than four times the total of his nearest opponent.

Florida was once one of the nation’s most closely divided presidential battlegrounds, but Republicans have built a commanding advantage in recent election cycles. No Democrat has won a Florida gubernatorial election since Lawton Chiles secured reelection in 1994.