Byron Ducking!

Brother man.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), the Republican gubernatorial nominee running in Florida remains dedicated to MAGA but wants the President of the United States to keep his distance.

Donalds is taking on former friend David Jolly, a former Republican lawmaker turned into a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. He is operating a ground game to win over Republicans who felt that MAGA and Gov. Ron DeSantis made Floridians lives miserable.

I have this race as Lean Republican.

Florida is a reclusive state for Democrats. Former president Barack Obama carried the state in 2008 and 2012. President Donald J. Trump carried it as a candidate in 2016 and 2024. Trump carried it as president in 2020.

Donalds is a Black Republican. He along with Reps. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), John James (R-MI) and Burgess Owens (R-UT) are leaving Congress. There will be no Black House Republicans come 2027. Hunt lost his bid to be the nominee in Texas senate race. Owens is leaving because the Utah Supreme Court knocked down the congressional map that gave him a favorable district. His former opponent Ben McAdams, a one term Democratic lawmaker is likely to win back the seat. James is the Republican gubernatorial nominee for Michigan. He is facing Michigan Secretary of State Joselyn Benson, the Democratic nominee in a close election.

The Donalds campaign scrubbed prominent mentions of him from Donalds’s website. It pissed off the president. He literally called the campaign to demand why he begged for his endorsement only to not have him associated with him. 

To calm Trump down, aides showed him a tweet where Donalds minimized the change and appeared beaming alongside the president inside the Oval Office, according to people familiar with the events. That satisfied Trump, who went on to warn that Donalds risked losing if he dropped him.

Donalds’ campaign is operating under a unique localized strain. While he secured an early endorsement from Trump, outgoing DeSantis notably withheld his endorsement until after the primary. With Trump’s current poll numbers dipping slightly in the state, Donalds has spent the final weeks of the campaign emphasizing DeSantis' endorsement instead, as the outgoing governor remains highly popular with the Florida electorate.

Donalds is actually doing Black outreach. Despite cutting very important policies that impact the Black community, Donalds is trying to explain that the need to use the government isn't helping Black families.

He got the endorsements from Nicki Minaj and Kodak Black. He is openly touting those celebrities as a shield to his Blackness.

Donalds went to his old school to do a town hall. Florida A&M University hosted him with Jolly coming in days to do his own town hall. 

The lawmaker had an icy reception.

Clarence Thomas and Coonsby Kids.

Donalds drew some positive reactions when he urged Black voters to make political decisions based on individual research rather than group expectations, even lightheartedly using a joke to ease the tension in the room.

As a candidate running to lead a state university system, Donalds was grilled on his support for the 2022 Stop WOKE Act and his efforts to disparage Critical Race Theory (CRT). Students expressed skepticism over his higher education policies, prompting Donalds to double down on his position that degrees should focus purely on economic viability rather than diversity frameworks.

Students pointed out the irony of Donalds’ support for strict crime laws, like the federal D.C. CRIMES Act (which defines adults at age 18 and imposes mandatory minimums). Questioners asked why he advocates for removing judicial leniency when he personally benefited from a second chance that allowed a drug charge from when he was 18 to be dropped. He defended his stance by stating that Florida law gave him an opportunity to rebuild, but added, "We're not changing that".

A pre-law student directly challenged Donalds on a perceived disconnect between his platform and the lived experiences of Black Americans, asking how he could claim to care about the community when his political circle roots itself in spaces that historically exclude them. Donalds was forced to push back defensively by citing the historical civil rights record of the Republican Party.

The most explosive moment occurred when a student stood up and accused Donalds of lying about protecting students. The crowd pressed him on FAMU's 287(g) agreement (signed by the Board of Trustees in 2025), which allows campus police to act as federal immigration enforcement. Donalds was forced to defend his strict stance on federal enforcement, stating that as governor, he has a responsibility to follow federal law, which drew loud boos and led to the student's removal by event staff.

A year after a fatal mass shooting at nearby Florida State University, students pressed Donalds on whether he would support legislation allowing firearms on college campuses. Donalds defensively maintained that the Second Amendment is "non-negotiable" and that safety should be managed by law enforcement rather than restricting gun rights, which many students labeled a "weak response".

Donalds faced scrutiny regarding data center development in Florida. After previously promoting them, he had to defensively walk back his stance due to a growing voter backlash over energy grid strain. Furthermore, students pressed him on why his campaign appeared to be distancing itself from Trump, noting that the president's endorsement helped him in the primary but that Trump's name had recently been altered or removed from his campaign website.