Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declined on Feb. 24 to endorse Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) as his successor while lauding his wife, Casey DeSantis, for the role.
Asked about his view on Donalds, DeSantis noted that President Donald Trump had just recently entered office and he will need the support of every Republican in Congress.
“I want these congressmen focused on enacting his agenda. They haven’t done very much yet. They’re not putting his executive orders into place. We'll see what they do on the spending. But we have such a narrow majority that to be trying to campaign other places and missing these votes is not something I think is advisable at all,” DeSantis, who ran against Trump in 2024 before dropping out and endorsing the president, told reporters at an unrelated press briefing.
“The reality is, we’ve achieved victories in Florida. We need to start achieving those victories up there [in Washington]. So I think people look at it and say, you got a guy like Byron—he just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the left in these last years. He’s just not been a part of it. He’s been in other states campaigning, and that’s fine, but okay, deliver results up there. That’s what I want to see,” the governor added.
A spokesman for Donalds did not respond to a request for comment.
Donalds has not yet launched a gubernatorial bid, but Trump said if he does, the congressman would have his “complete and total endorsement.”
Trump wrote on social media at the time, “As Governor, Byron would have a BIG Voice and would work closely with me to advance our America First Agenda.”
Donalds was a state representative from 2016 to 2020 when he won an open race to represent Florida’s 19th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Donalds has handily won reelection twice.
DeSantis, a former congressman, narrowly won the gubernatorial race in 2018 by less than 33,000 votes. In 2022, he triumphed with nearly 60 percent of the vote share.
Florida law does not allow governors to serve more than two consecutive terms, preventing DeSantis from running in 2026.
DeSantis told reporters on Monday that people think Republicans are safe now in Florida but he doesn’t think that notion is true.
“We could revert very quickly. That could happen. 100 percent. So it really needs to be okay, are you going to be somebody that’s going to fight for people, especially when it’s not easy,” he said.
DeSantis declined to discuss Florida Lt. Gov Jeanette Nuñez, 52, but said, unprompted, that people ask him all the time about Florida’s first lady.
“There’s been a lot of people ... chattering about her [Casey] running,” he said.
He added later: “I won by the biggest margin that any Republican has ever won a governor’s race here in Florida. She would do better than me. That would happen. She’s somebody that has the intestinal fortitude and the dedication to conservative principles that you know anything that we’ve accomplished she’d be able to take to the next level.”
DeSantis recalled Rush Limbaugh, the late conservative radio host, approaching him after speaking with his wife.
“He put his finger in my chest, [and] he’s like ’the only person I would rather have as my governor than you is her,'” DeSantis said. “And that’s a pretty good endorsement there.”
Casey DeSantis, 44, a former news journalist, has not yet announced a campaign. Neither has she ruled one out.
