Congressman Byron Donalds is a Republican candidate for governor of Florida in the 2026 election. He leads major polls among all of the GOP candidates by double-digit margins in each poll, but typically doesn’t get over 50% of the voters. In Florida gubernatorial primaries, pluralities, not majorities, are sufficient to advance to a general election.
Donalds has represented Florida’s 19th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2021. The district is based in Southwest Florida and includes Naples and surrounding communities. He announced his campaign for governor in February 2025 and entered the race with the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
In Congress, Donalds serves on the House Financial Services Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. His current subcommittee assignments cover digital assets and financial technology, financial institutions, economic growth and energy policy, and military and foreign affairs. During previous terms, he also served on the House Budget and Small Business committees.
Donalds has developed a national profile as a frequent defender of Trump and a member of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. He received multiple votes for speaker of the House during the prolonged leadership election in January 2023, when a group of Republican members opposed Kevin McCarthy’s initial bid for the position.
Before entering Congress, Donalds served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 through 2020, representing District 80, which included portions of Collier and Hendry counties. During his time in the Legislature, he worked on banking, insurance, education, criminal justice and government-accountability issues and chaired the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee.
Donalds first ran for Congress in 2012 but was unsuccessful in the Republican primary. He later became active in the Tea Party movement before winning election to the Florida House. In 2020, he won a crowded Republican primary for Florida’s 19th Congressional District and went on to win the general election.
His gubernatorial campaign has emphasized reducing insurance and housing costs, expanding transportation infrastructure, restoring the Everglades, improving public education and attracting additional financial companies to Florida. Donalds has also supported stricter immigration enforcement, lower taxes, expanded school choice and policies aligned with Trump’s national political agenda.
More recently, Donalds has proposed requiring large artificial-intelligence data centers to secure their own electricity and water supplies rather than passing infrastructure costs on to residential utility customers. He has said that Florida should accommodate new technology while protecting water resources and preventing household utility rates from increasing.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Donalds moved to Florida to attend college. He graduated from Florida State University in 2002 with a degree in finance and marketing. Before holding elected office, he worked in banking, finance and insurance in Southwest Florida.
Donalds lives in Naples with his wife, Erika, and their three sons. Because he is running for governor rather than seeking another term in Congress, he will not appear as a candidate for reelection to the U.S. House in the August 18, 2026, Republican prima
