(Daily Signal)—With less than two weeks left until the midterm elections, Florida gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Byron Donalds thinks the president’s visit this weekend mobilized the base to vote on Nov. 3.
“They sometimes forget the midterms, so the president coming in gives you a real boost to make sure people remember, ‘Oh yes, there is an election,’” the Republican said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Signal. “Two, it’s about making sure we drive out our base. If you’re going to win any election, it starts with your base.”
Trump rallied for Donalds in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday. Donalds is only two points ahead of his opponent David Jolly, according to a new University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab poll. Ron DeSantis won reelection as Florida governor in 2022 by 19.4 percentage points, and Trump won the state in 2024 by 13.1 points.
The Fox News Power Rankings moved the race from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.” National Democrats invested $1 million in the race in October.
A boost from the president could help move Donalds into safer territory. When asked about the tight margins, Donalds said “we are in a new governor’s race overall.”
“The voters of Florida are getting to know me now,” he said. “But what we’ve already seen in polling–not just our polling, but other polling that’s out there—we’re seeing everything move in our direction very strongly.”
In his rally, Trump urged voters to “pretend I’m on the ballot” and called Jolly “a terrible guy” with “no heart, no soul.”
“He wants to pack the Supreme Court,” he said. “He wants to take away your guns. He wants to open the borders. He wants to have transgender for everybody.”
‘The nicest thing I can say about him is that he lies,” he added. “But actually, I believe he’s crazy. So now he’s pledging to turn Florida into a sanctuary state so that we can protect illegal aliens.”
Though the race in Florida is close, Trump said if voters pretend he’s on the ballot, “we’re going to have landslides, the likes of which we’ve never seen.”
With 12 days left, Donalds plans to “stay focused.”
“I think we’re going to be successful,” he said. “Is it going to be the margin of victory four years ago? No, but we think it’s definitely going to be larger than it was eight years ago in our state.” DeSantis beat Democrat Andrew Gillum by just 0.4 percentage points in 2018.
Though Hispanic voters nationwide have shifted away from Republicans, Donalds believes they will turn out to vote for Florida Republicans. In a Fox survey last week, 31% of Hispanic voters said they preferred the Republican candidate over the Democrat, marking a 12 point decrease from their support for Trump in 2024. In 2024, Hispanics made up about 22% of Florida’s registered voters.
“We’re seeing the energy with Puerto Rican voters in Orlando and Kissimmee,” he said. “We see the energy obviously from Cuban voters, but also Venezuelans and Costa Ricans. And our campaign strategy, like I said, has been to talk to everybody.”
Hispanic voters understand the threat of communism posed by electing far-left Democrats, he said. Throughout the election cycle, Trump and Republican candidates have argued Democrats will steer the country in the direction of socialism if they win in November. Angie Nixon, the Democrat candidate for the Florida senate race, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“So many voters, especially Hispanic voters, say ‘This is what we left.’ We escaped this craziness. We don’t want to see it here,’” he said. “And so, as the Democrats continue to embrace Bernie Sanders and AOC, and the Democrat Socialists of America, the more that they embrace that, the more they’re going to lose Hispanic voters.”
“I think that’s not something that we just saw in the last election. I think we’re going to see some of it this election,” he said. “I think we’re going to see it for the elections to come.”
Donalds said he plans to keep the “bedrock principles” of DeSantis in place. DeSantis holds an 87% approval rating with Florida Republicans.
“We’re going to be a law and order state,” he said. “We’re going to be a free state. We’re going to be a safe state. We’re a state where parents choose the education for their kids, not governments. This is a state that so many people have chosen.”
“We do have to address affordability,” he added. “There’s no doubt about it. We’re going to drive down costs for the people of Florida, and we also still have to make sure we protect our environment while we build out our economies for the future.”
Donalds praised the governor for doing “a great job.”
“My mission is to build on his success and take Florida to a whole new level,” he said.
Speaking after Trump at the Fort Myers rally, Donalds said “We’re going to win in 11 days.”
“Florida will always be the greatest state in America,” he said.
