Trump Boost Propels Florida Shock

Map of Florida with a red pushpin — Photo: Aleksandr Grechanyuk / Shutterstock

Byron Donalds won Florida’s governor race and told cheering supporters the Sunshine State is staying firmly in Republican hands.

Story Snapshot

Byron Donalds defeated David Jolly in the 2026 Florida governor’s race, becoming the state’s first Black governor.
The Associated Press called the race early Wednesday morning, with Donalds leading roughly 50% to 48.7%.
Donalds thanked President Trump by name and declared “we are still red” in his victory speech.
His agenda targets insurance costs, housing prices, agricultural land protection, and parental rights.

Donalds Claims Florida Governor’s Mansion For The GOP

Byron Donalds beat David Jolly in Florida’s 2026 governor’s race, keeping the state firmly under Republican control. The Associated Press called the race for Donalds at 2:09 a.m. on November 4, reporting him ahead 4,124,944 votes to 4,012,656, a roughly 50% to 48.7% split. Florida Election Watch’s unofficial results showed the Donalds-Avila ticket topping 4.1 million votes.

Multiple outlets independently confirmed the outcome. NBC News reported similar totals and noted Donalds will become Florida’s first Black governor. PBS, Fox 35 Orlando, and WUSF all described Donalds as the projected or elected winner, cementing another term of Republican leadership in a state conservatives have fought hard to hold.

‘We Are Still Red,’ Donalds Tells Cheering Crowd

Donalds didn’t mince words once the race was called. He told supporters, “I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red,” then thanked President Trump directly for backing his campaign. That line landed as a clear message to Washington and to Democrats hoping Florida might drift leftward after years of GOP dominance.

The win followed Donalds’s August 18 primary victory, where he pulled in 811,131 votes, or 47.8%, to secure the Republican nomination. The Associated Press noted Trump’s endorsement played a real role in helping Donalds win that primary, reinforcing how closely tied the governor-elect’s political rise has been to the president’s support.

Race Tighter Than Expected, But The Result Holds

The statewide margin came in under two percentage points, with Jolly carrying Hillsborough and Pinellas counties while Donalds won Pasco and Polk. WUSF reported the gap at about 108,481 ballots once 99% of votes were counted. Those numbers were unofficial at the time of reporting, as Florida law requires certification before results become final, a standard process that applies to every statewide race.

That procedural step is routine, not a sign of trouble. Florida certified Ron DeSantis’s 2018 governor win only after a two-week recount process on a margin of just 32,463 votes out of more than 8 million cast, and that result stood without controversy once finalized. Donalds’s lead is more than three times that size.

Donalds Lays Out His Plan For Florida Families

Donalds used his speech to spell out what he intends to do in office. He pledged to lower insurance premiums, make housing more affordable, protect farmland, water, and the environment, and fight bigotry, including anti-Semitism. He also promised to grow Florida’s economy and put parents, not government bureaucrats, in charge of raising their own children.

Those are the kinds of priorities conservative families have been demanding for years, especially after watching insurance costs and housing prices climb under policies that favored red tape over results. Donalds framed his win as a mandate to keep government out of parents’ business while still delivering lower costs for working Floridians.

🚨 BOOM! Byron Donalds blasts GOP failures in Congress and warns gas prices cost Republicans votes!

“We have a LOT OF REPUBLICANS who did not vote or voted for Democrats!”

Donalds cites the stalled SAVE America Act, failure to codify Trump's border policies, and soaring fuel… pic.twitter.com/m2eK5lFxmD

— Wake Up Patriot 🇺🇸 (@WakeUpPatriott) November 4, 2026

Donalds is expected to be sworn in as Florida’s governor on January 5, according to WUSF’s reporting on the transition timeline. His victory extends a run of Republican control in Tallahassee and sends a signal that Trump’s brand of politics still carries real weight in one of the nation’s biggest swing-turned-red states.