Byron Donalds brought his wife and three sons to an event at Sugarshack Downtown in Bonita Springs on Monday as he concluded his Republican campaign for Florida governor.
Erika Donalds and the couple's three sons, Damon, Darin and Mason, joined the candidate for the event, according to The News-Press.
Protesters were across the street before the event.
A Campaign That Started And Ended In The Same Town
Bonita Springs carries symbolic weight for the Donalds campaign. It's the same city where he launched his bid for governor in March 2025, as news-press.com reported at the time. Speaking at the Bonita Springs event, Donalds reflected on that arc, telling the crowd, “It's great to be back where we started almost 21 months ago here in Bonita Springs,” according to Florida Politics.
Florida Politics scheduled a Monday Sarasota stop to close out a leg of the Defending the Florida Dream Bus Tour, while The News-Press reported a final pre-election stop in Bonita Springs.
Insurance Cuts And Automatic Permits Headline Sarasota Pitch
At the Sarasota rally, Donalds addressed the crowd.
Florida Senate President Ashley Moody, Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson all spoke before Donalds took the stage there, the outlet noted.
Polls Show Tight Race Heading Into Election Day
Surveys released in the campaign's closing weeks painted a close contest between Donalds and Democratic nominee David Jolly. A St. Pete Polls survey found Donalds leading Jolly 48% to 46%, within the margin of error, according to floridapolitics.com.
Florida Politics reported the GOP holds a 1.5-million-voter registration advantage statewide.
Turnout patterns on the ground have been uneven. In Polk County, turnout was nearly deadlocked on the eve of the election despite Republicans holding a 50,000-voter registration advantage there, according to fox13news.com.
Jolly Made His Own Closing Push
Donalds wasn't alone in barnstorming the state on the campaign's final full day. Jolly and running mate Gwen Graham visited Haines City in Polk County on Monday morning before heading to Brevard County, with final rallies planned in Palm Beach and Broward counties Monday night, per the Fox 13 Tampa Bay report.
The two campaigns had already drawn contrasts on the trail. The Miami Herald reported that Jolly's turnout at a Cascades Park rally in Tallahassee on Oct. 27 doubled the crowd at a Donalds rally held that same morning at Bumpa's Local 349, also in Tallahassee, as part of the Defending the Florida Dream Tour.
