ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for Florida governor and former Rep. David Jolly picked up the Democratic nod in Tuesday’s primaries, setting the stage for a fall campaign to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis and decide the state’s future political direction.
November’s election will test President Donald Trump’s grip on his adopted state and Democrats’ ability to resurrect Florida as a national political battleground. Florida has moved notably to the right since Trump’s victory in 2016, though Democrats hope to regain ground from his slumping popularity ratings.
DeSantis, a leading conservative figure who has both clashed and collaborated with Trump over the years, is barred from running for a third consecutive term.
Also Tuesday, progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate special election, defeating retired Army Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, a onetime National Security Council official who testified in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
Nixon, who was heavily outspent by Vindman, will face Sen. Ashley Moody, winner of the Republican nomination, in November to fill the last two years of Marco Rubio’s Senate term. Rubio left the seat to become Trump’s secretary of state last year.
Donalds would be Florida’s first Black governor if he wins in November. He defeated a former DeSantis running mate, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, political newcomer James Fishback and others Tuesday.
The 47-year-old congressman Donalds told his supporters at a Universal Studios resort hotel that he’d heard from Republican rivals who pledged their help in winning the general election.
“The primary is over,” Donalds said. “Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican Party.”
Donalds described Trump’s backing as important but not determinative.
“Obviously, he has the strongest following of anybody in our party,” he said. However, he added, “you can’t just sit back and think the president’s endorsement is going to carry you.”
Donalds has promised to push tax cuts, overhaul Florida’s insurance regulations to lower consumer costs and seek greater price transparency from healthcare providers.
The Democrats’ candidate for governor, Jolly, is a former Republican congressman who switched parties last year. He did not shy away from his partisan history as he addressed supporters Tuesday night.
“To my Democratic friends, thank you for welcoming me into the party,” he said.
Jolly’s speech detailed a platform that balances between both political parties: an embrace of capitalism and a lean government, but one that “needs to do its part to fill the gaps,” such as with education and housing.
“As an old-school Republican, I talk about ending the culture wars not to celebrate some progressive platform,” he said, “but because I still believe in the old school Republican, Libertarian policy that government should simply stay out of your life, and stay out of your bedroom.”
It’s the second time in a row that Democrats have nominated a onetime Republican for governor.
Four years ago, they backed former Gov. Charlie Crist, only to see him lose by nearly 20 percentage points to DeSantis.
Rich Chamberlin, a retiree in Port St. Lucie, said he supported Jolly in Tuesday’s primary, spurred on by attack ads against him.
“I saw anti-Jolly ads. I said ‘Ok, if they are against him, then I must be for him,’” Chamberlin said, adding it didn’t matter to him that Jolly was once a Republican.
