Rep. Byron Donalds Announces Plan to Run for Florida Governor in 2026

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) speaks following the inauguration of President Donald Trump during an event at Capital One Arena in Washington on Jan. 20, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) announced on Tuesday that he intends to run for Florida’s governorship next year.

Donalds announced his candidacy during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, saying, “I think now is the time to take the mantle and lead our state into the future.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis currently holds the position but due to term limits, he will be ineligible to run for a third term.

During the interview, Donalds praised DeSantis for his “tremendous job” leading the state for two terms.

“We have a great governor. Ron DeSantis has done a tremendous job for our state. But now the job is to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country, so that’s going to be the mission at hand. And I’m excited to announce my candidacy with you tonight,” he told Hannity.

Donalds stated that, if elected governor, he plans to stabilize insurance costs in Florida and transform the state into the “financial hub of the world” by promoting cryptocurrency and digital assets.

He also pledged to restore the waterways of the Everglades and enhance children’s access to quality education.

Donalds was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016. He previously served on the Board of Trustees for Florida Southwestern State College under former Gov. Rick Scott’s administration.

The announcement is unsurprising as President Donald Trump endorsed Donalds for the 2026 gubernatorial race last week.

“I know Byron well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a TOTAL WINNER!” Trump stated on the Truth Social post on Feb. 21.

Trump said he believes that Donalds “would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement.”

Donalds responded to the president’s post, saying that he is “committed to working with him to Keep Florida Great.” In announcing his candidacy on Tuesday, Donalds said he was honored to receive Trump’s endorsement.

DeSantis suggested on Monday that his wife, Casey DeSantis, has the qualities for the role, which opens up the possibility of her entering the race.

“She would do better than me. Like, there’s no question about that,” he told reporters. “She’s somebody that has, I think, the intestinal fortitude and the dedication to conservative principles that anything we’ve accomplished, she’d be able to take to the next level.”

DeSantis competed against Trump in the GOP primaries last year but later dropped out of the race after struggling to secure support in the Iowa caucuses.

Meanwhile, the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) has issued a statement expressing its opposition to Donalds’s gubernatorial bid. FDP chair Nikki Fried said that Donalds is not qualified to govern the state. “He has little political experience and no executive experience,” Fried stated.