Republican Byron Donalds has won the Florida gubernatorial election, becoming the state’s first Black governor. In a closely contested race, Donalds—who received an endorsement from President Donald Trump during the campaign—defeated Democrat David Jolly by approximately 1.25 percentage points, with 98% of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
This narrow victory stands in stark contrast to the nearly 20-point margin achieved by his predecessor, Republican Ron DeSantis, in 2022. Despite the smaller margin, Donalds’ win cements Republican control in a state where the party already held a supermajority in the state legislature.
Donalds celebrated his victory at a rally held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, located in Broward County, north of Miami. “The truth is, there are people in our state who are struggling—looking at their insurance bills, checking their bank accounts, not just month-to-month, but day-to-day, trying to figure out how to make ends meet. My mission as the next governor of Florida is to ensure they can build a great life here,” Donalds said in his initial remarks to his supporters.
He also mentioned that Trump had called to congratulate him, and he expressed his gratitude for the former president’s support: “Mr. President, I want you to hear from Florida that we remain a ‘red’ state,” he said, to the sound of cheers.
Donalds currently serves as the congressman for the 19th District, which encompasses Southwest Florida, including the Naples and Fort Myers area. His opponent, Jolly, is a former Republican congressman who joined the Democratic ranks in 2025.
Both campaigns centered on the cost of living. Jolly focused on housing, healthcare, and public education, while Donalds advocated for lowering property taxes and reducing homeowners’ insurance premiums—a critical issue in Florida, a state frequently battered by hurricanes—in addition to promising the continuation of Republican governance.
In Florida, Republicans have nearly 1.5 million more registered voters than Democrats. For years, the state was one of the most contested in the country, until it shifted to the right over the last decade. DeSantis won the governorship in 2018 by less than half a percentage point, and four years later, he secured victory again with a margin of nearly 20 points. Trump won the state in 2024 by 13 points.
However, in the gubernatorial race, the three most populous counties in South Florida—Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach—voted blue. In Miami-Dade, where more than 70% of the population is Hispanic, DeSantis had won four years earlier with 59.4% of the vote.
Donalds raised more than six times as much as Jolly, bringing in over $173 million—combined between his campaign and his political committee—by the end of October. Jolly raised approximately $27 million, according to Florida election records.
Even so, heading into the election, Donalds held only a 3.7-point lead over Jolly, according to the polling average from The Hill and Decision Desk HQ on Election Day. The day before, a poll by Targoz Market Research gave Donalds a seven-point lead (50% to 43%), while RedBox Research—from the progressive political action committee A Fight Worth Having—showed him with a lead of just one point (47% to 46%). According to the aggregator from EL PAÍS, the lead was 4.7 points.
