Bonita Springs, Florida. – Exclusive – Republicans Rep. Byron Donaldswhen his 2026 campaign for Florida governor began, touted “This will take off.”
Donalds’ predictions are an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital during his first campaign in the 2026 bid.
The conservative lawmaker has represented the 19th Congressional District in Florida, southwestern state for four years and is now the only major Republican to enter the race so far to successfully succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has a limited term.
President Donald Trump’s staunch supporter and ally Donald announced his candidacy when he appears Fox News’ “Hanniti”“Early morning last month, a few days after landing in the president’s approval.
“We’re going to run hard and we’re going to take it to every place in Florida,” Donald promised in the interview.
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Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican in Florida’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign, took the podium on March 28, 2025 in Bonita Springs, Florida. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
and point to Trump’s supporthis huge grip on the Republican Party is stronger than ever, and he stresses that “it’s a great thing to have his approval and I’m so glad to have it.”
“When he makes these choices, they tend to bring benefits to his candidates,” Donalds noted.
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Florida’s campaign is Florida First Lady Casey Desantis It has admitted that she is considering her 2026 Republican gubernatorial campaign to inherit Tallahassee’s husband.
DeSantis has repeatedly touted his wife’s achievements as the Florida First Lady and regarded her as a worthy successor.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife, First Lady, celebrated his victory over Democratic state gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist at an election night viewing party at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida on November 8, 2022. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
Additionally, Casey DeSantis was asked by reporters if she would run for the election late last month.
“To quote the late Yogi Berra,” DeSantis reiterates the famous line from the late baseball legend. “If you see a fork on the road, go.”
Then the governor quipped to reporters, “You can read what you know.”
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When asked this month at the National Academy of Review Ideas Summit at Maryland’s National Harbor, if she could launch a campaign, Casey Desantis said: “We’ll see.”
Sources last month confirmed to Fox News that the governor has been in touch with donors on behalf of his wife.
Florida First Lady Casey Desantis campaigns for her husband, Ron Desantis, of the Atlantic Ocean, Iowa, on Saturday, January 13, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When asked about possible confrontation with Casey DeSantis, Donalds said: “Race has its own shape, so we’ll see what actually happened.”
He added: “My mission will focus on our future and what is necessary for Florida and will thrive for everyone. It will be my mission. We will see how the game is shaped.”
Donalds said his goal is to convey to voters “I have a vision for their future and I think when they hear it they will choose me.”
The next campaign cash submission deadline for the Florida gubernatorial race is midnight, with sources on the political track of Congress predicting that Donalds will “easily erode” in his successful campaign to become governor, raising $1 million in Desantis in his first month as a gubernatorial candidate.
another Headquartered in Florida Republican strategist, demanding that they remain anonymous to speak more freely.
Demonstrators kicked off on March 28, 2025 at the 2026 Florida Governor’s campaign for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds in Bonita Springs, Florida. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Outside the rally, the rally was held at a restaurant and music venue in downtown Bonita Springs, where dozens of demonstrators protested the sweeping and controversial agenda of Donalds and the Trump administration.
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Donalds rally held on Capitol Hill in special elections next week, with the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill in a special election. in Florida.
Voters in two Florida congressional districts will head to the poll Tuesday as Republicans aim to maintain a solid red seat and give themselves more room to breathe In the house.
The elections were in Florida’s No. 1 and No. 6 Congressional Districts, and Trump scored 37 and 30 points in last year’s presidential election.
But Democratic candidates have greatly surpassed Republican candidates, with polls in recent days showing that the race in District 6 is in the wrong range.
Republicans currently have a 218-213 majority in the House, with two open seats, Republicans resigned and Democratic lawmakers died in March.
“When it comes to Florida, you have two games and they seem to be good,” Trump told reporters Friday.
But Trump pointed out that the huge fundraising advantage of Democratic candidates over Republican competitors has attracted attention, saying: “In a case like this, you never know what will happen.”
Donalds predicted in his Fox News digital interview that a Republican House majority would “will be hard” if the party loses one of Tuesday’s elections.
But he added: “I don’t want to do that. I think we’re going to win both seats on Tuesday. I think Republican voters in these areas will win because in the end, the choice is clear.”
Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis is favored by Democratic Gay Valimont in the game Florida In the Panhandle area.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis was the Republican nominee in the state’s first congressional district’s special congressional election Tuesday. (Tiffany Tompkins/Bradenton Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Republican Matt Gaetz won reelection in the region in November’s election, resigning from reelection in the region weeks after Trump elected him as attorney general in his second administration.
Gates later withdrew from the cabinet’s considerations.
But it’s the sixth CD, which is located on the Atlantic coast of Florida, from Daytona Beach to St. Augustine and the southern Inland to the suburbs of Ocala, which really raises concerns among some in the Republican Party.
The game was to succeed Republican Michael Waltz, who resigned from the seat on January 20 after Trump named his national security adviser.
Republican state Sen. Randy Fine faces face to face with Josh Weil, a Democratic teacher in a multiplayer field.
Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican from South Brewad County, is running for the special House elections in the state’s Sixth Congressional District. (AP)
Weil has attracted a lot of national attention by earning fines in the campaign cash battle with about 10 to 1 profit in recent weeks.
The cash difference in the sixth CD race spurred the Republican outside groups, making a last-minute contribution within the end of the campaign to support the fine, with the conservative super PACS launching an ad that drew Trump support for the fine.
Rep. Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congress Committee, told reporters earlier this week.
But Hudson added that the fine was “doing what he needed to do. He’s on TV now.”
He stressed: “We will win a seat. I’m not worried at all.”
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Trump said on Friday that “our candidates don’t have that kind of money.”
In the first district, Republicans paid less attention to losing seats, with Wallimont topped the fundraiser with a margin of about five to one.
