Gov. Ron DeSantis stood alongside Byron Donalds in Tampa yesterday and gave the Republican gubernatorial nominee something he'd withheld for months: his endorsement. The moment, at a Republican Party of Florida leadership forum, capped a primary season defined by an open rift between the two men, and it came roughly two months before Floridians head to the polls for the midterm elections.
DeSantis didn't just back Donalds. According to the Washington Examiner, he endorsed the entire statewide GOP ticket, including Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. The Tampa forum was reported on by Blake Devine for FOX 13 Tampa Bay, which noted the event brought Florida's top elected Republicans together on one stage.
A Rift Years in the Making
The appearance mattered because of what preceded it. DeSantis and Donalds had not appeared together publicly since July 2025, a stretch rooted in Donalds' early endorsement of Donald Trump over DeSantis during the 2024 presidential primary, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay's account of the forum's significance. That tension carried into this year's governor's race, when DeSantis declined to back Donalds during the GOP primary against his own appointee, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.
Collins never closed the gap. In the August 18 closed Republican primary, Donalds won nearly 48% of the vote across an 11-candidate field, beating Collins by roughly 20 percentage points, per Treasure Coast Today. DeSantis had appointed Collins lieutenant governor in 2025, making the lopsided result all the more pointed. Hoodline previously reported on Collins' late running-mate pick in the campaign's closing days.
Donalds Already Had the Institutional Backing
By the time DeSantis stepped onto the Tampa stage, Donalds had already locked down nearly everyone else who mattered inside Florida Republican politics. Florida Politics reported that Donalds secured endorsements from the state's entire incumbent Cabinet — Uthmeier, Ingoglia, and Simpson — along with former President Trump, well before the governor came aboard. Trump's early backing had also shaped the primary's opening months, as Hoodline reported when Trump's nod boosted Donalds early in the race.
The financial gap between the two GOP primary rivals was just as stark as the endorsement gap. Donalds raised more than $111 million across his campaign and affiliated political committees through the August primary, compared with less than $10 million for Collins, according to Florida Politics. That total includes $10 million from hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin.
What the General Election Looks Like Now
Donalds heads into the fall facing Democratic nominee David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who switched party registration before entering the race, according to the Associated Press. Jolly's running mate is Gwen Graham, while Donalds is running with State Sen. Bryan Avila, whom Hoodline covered when he was unveiled at Miami's Freedom Tower.
The stakes attached to the race go beyond the usual midterm math. If elected on November 3, Donalds would become Florida's first Black governor and the first African American governor elected in the Deep South, the AP reported, and only the second Black Republican governor in U.S. history after Louisiana's P.B.S. Pinchback during Reconstruction. DeSantis himself is barred from seeking a third term under Article IV, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution, which limits governors to two consecutive four-year terms — a rule that has applied since he took office in January 2019, according to the Florida Senate.
The Numbers Behind the GOP's Confidence
Florida Republicans now hold a voter registration advantage of roughly 1.5 million over Democrats as of mid-2026, a dramatic swing from 2020, when Democrats still held the registration edge statewide, per WTSP. That shift underpins the party's push for a unified front after the Collins-Donalds primary fight.
Jolly wasted no time responding to the Tampa show of force. In a statement following the endorsement rally, he framed his campaign around housing and healthcare affordability and cast Donalds as “more of the same,” WTSP reported. It's a preview of the contrast Jolly will likely lean on through November, positioning himself as a former Republican now courting moderate and independent voters.
Whether DeSantis campaigns actively for Donalds between now and Election Day remains an open question, as does how affordability debates over property insurance, healthcare, and education will play out across Florida's major metro areas. For now, the Tampa forum stands as the clearest signal yet that Florida's Republican establishment — however reluctantly in DeSantis' case — has consolidated behind its nominee.
