Byron Donalds for Florida Governor

Florida Governor Race 2026

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds holds a decisive early advantage in the 2026 Republican primary for governor, according to a new survey showing him far ahead of other potential candidates and the only contender with meaningful support among GOP voters.

The poll found Donalds at 45 percent, while House Speaker Paul Renner, Sen. Jay Collins and activist James Fishback each drew between 1 and 3 percent, with nearly half of respondents still undecided.

Read about Donalds

The 2026 Florida gubernatorial election will take place on November 3, 2026, to elect the next governor of Florida, alongside other state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is term-limited and cannot seek election to a third consecutive term.

Democrats have not won a gubernatorial election in Florida since Lawton Chiles was re-elected Governor in 1994.

For the Democrats, the front-runner for the nomination appears to be David Jolly. Jolly, a former Republican member of Congress from 2014–17, announced his bid for governor in June.

Jolly, a vocal Trump critic during his time in office, expressed views that he was pro-life and for same-sex marriage, while also going against oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and supporting limits on political campaign contributions. These centrist stances led to Jolly being ranked as the 48th most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives by The Lugar Center in 2016.

If Jolly were to be nominated, it would be the second straight time the Democratic Party selected a former Republican.