Florida governor-elect Byron Donalds has picked Manuel “Manny” Kadre, the chairman of the University of Miami Board of Trustees and CEO of a luxury car dealership chain, to lead his transition team as the Republican prepares to take office in Tallahassee. Kadre will be joined by a team that includes a PAC fundraising chair, a conservative policy group leader, and a former federal banking official, several of whom have also been significant financial backers of Donalds' campaign.
Who's Running the Transition
Donalds selected Kadre, the Miami trustees chairman and dealership executive, to lead the effort, according to the Miami Herald. The governor-elect also made Ryan Smith the transition team's executive director, the same outlet reported. Tarren Bragdon, who leads the Naples-based Foundation for Government Accountability, will serve as the team's policy chairman, and Teresa Ressel, a banking executive, has been named a senior adviser.
Per Florida Politics, Kadre's role as transition chair will involve organizing administration staff, making cabinet recommendations, and establishing legislative priorities, according to Florida Politics. Donalds said in a statement that the team was already working to ensure the administration arrives in Tallahassee fully primed to execute on its mission for the people of Florida, per the Herald's reporting.
Kadre's Financial Ties to the Campaign
Kadre gave $25,000 to Donalds' campaign in September, the same week he attended a campaign retreat in Miami Beach, the Herald reported. He was also present at early discussions between Ken Griffin and Gov. Ron DeSantis about funding a Republican primary challenger against Donalds in 2025, according to NBC News reporting cited by the paper.
Griffin went on to become Donalds' biggest campaign donor. The Herald reported that Griffin contributed $15 million to Donalds' political committee, while Yahoo reported the hedge-fund billionaire donated more than $15 million to the PAC, including a $10 million contribution in late July and another $5 million in October. The outlets' figures differ, and the record does not reconcile the exact total.
Policy Chairman's Record and Donor History
Bragdon, the policy chairman, contributed $10,000 to Donalds' political committee, the Herald's reporting shows. His organization, the Foundation for Government Accountability, along with its affiliated lobbying arm, has led efforts in multiple states to pass laws cutting back and limiting access to public assistance programs, the newspaper noted.
Ressel, the senior adviser, contributed $3,000 to Donalds' campaign in March, the Herald reported. Accounts of her prior federal service differ: the Herald described her as a former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury under George W. Bush, while Florida Politics reported she previously served as Assistant Secretary and CFO of the U.S. Treasury under President Donald Trump. The two outlets attribute different titles and administrations to her Treasury tenure.
A Record-Setting Campaign Operation
Smith, the transition's executive director, chaired the Friends of Byron Donalds PAC during the campaign. The Herald reported the PAC raised over $155 million to help Donalds win, while Florida Politics reported that the broader political operation Smith oversaw banked more than $174 million, which it described as a state record for funds raised by a non-incumbent gubernatorial candidate. The two figures describe different scopes of fundraising rather than the same total.
Yahoo's own review found the PAC collected more than $155 million in contributions, with its ten largest donors combining for roughly $48 million, or 31 percent of the total funds raised, according to Yahoo. In a post-election memo, Smith attributed Donalds' win to Donald Trump's endorsement, a six-to-one fundraising advantage over Democratic candidate David Jolly, and the campaign's voter-turnout operation, the Herald's article notes. Donalds defeated Jolly in the race for Florida governor on Tuesday.
DeSantis Predicts a Smoother Handoff
Outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he expects the transition to Donalds to go more smoothly than his own experience taking office. “We will have a very smooth transition,” DeSantis said, according to a Your Sun column, while acknowledging that “eight years ago I didn't have a cooperative transition.” That column noted that after the 2018 election, DeSantis' own transition team clashed with Rick Scott's outgoing administration over office space and last-minute appointments Scott made on his way out.
