Republican Byron Donalds has won Florida’s closely watched governor’s race, defeating Democrat David Jolly and securing his place as the state’s first Black governor.
The 48-year-old congressman was backed by President Donald Trump and benefited from a substantial campaign fund. His victory came as Republicans showed growing dissatisfaction with Mr Trump over gas prices and the war with Iran.
Mr Donalds campaigned on the cost of living, focusing on inflation, housing and insurance. He also pledged to continue the conservative policies of outgoing Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who remains popular in Florida and appeared alongside him during the campaign.
The contest was expected to be close for much of the campaign, despite Republicans holding a lead of about 1.5 million registered voters over Democrats in Florida. A further 3.3 million unaffiliated voters were regarded as available to either side.
Mr Donalds spent most of his career in the finance industry before serving two terms in Congress and two terms in the Florida House. He began his political life as a Democrat but left the party in 2010.
He was an early supporter of Mr Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and the president later endorsed his bid for governor. The two men rallied together in Daytona Beach days before the election.
However, polls earlier in the year indicated that Mr Trump was less popular in Florida than Mr DeSantis. In September, Mr Donalds appeared to distance himself from the president by removing prominent displays of Mr Trump’s name from his campaign website.
Mr Jolly, 54, ran under the slogan “believe in better”, making affordability, housing, inflation and petrol prices central to his campaign. He also highlighted the expansion of artificial intelligence data centres, referring to his opponent as “data centre Donalds” over campaign contributions from people in the industry.
Mr Donalds introduced legislation this summer that would require data centres to produce their own power and water. Before switching to the Democratic Party last year, Mr Jolly had been a Republican congressman; he left the party in 2018, later registering as unaffiliated.
