A year-and-a-half out from Florida’s governor’s race, Byron Donalds is already boxing out candidates by racking up endorsements from Republican lawmakers.
Meanwhile, his highest profile likely challenger, Florida’s first lady, Casey DeSantis, is busy fighting off a growing corruption scandal over allegations her nonprofit Hope Florida funneled $10 million in taxpayer funds toward political ads. Though Casey DeSantis hasn’t officially joined the race, both she and her husband have hinted at her possible running.
When reporters asked her in February if she was planning a run, she responded cryptically, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” NBC News reported in March that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ allies have been urging Florida Republicans to hold off endorsing Donalds.
But Donalds, who in February received President Donald Trump’s endorsement, has already been lining up support, including from most of Florida’s congressional delegation and a string of state lawmakers. Pennsylvania megadonor Jeff Yass has given Donalds’ political action committee $5,000,000. According to the latest campaign finance reports, Donalds has raised more than $11.5 million since Trump’s endorsement.
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“What it does say is, ‘If I endorse somebody, I’m not going to run myself,’ and so that’s where there’s value in those things. When you’re racking endorsements from state legislators and politico types in Florida, that takes them out of the equation. And that’s really what he’s trying to do at this point,” said Michael Binder, a Florida politics expert who runs public polls at the University of North Florida. “State senator X or state House member Y that nobody knows who you are, those are circumstances where they’re probably boxed out at this point.”
Donalds is starting his campaign early. DeSantis announced his campaign for governor shortly after landing Trump’s endorsement in December 2017 (DeSantis officially announced his bid in January 2018). Donalds has a much longer campaign runway until the August 2026 Republican primary, and it’s likely he’ll find challengers soon.
But in the meantime, in a likely boost for Donalds, state-level lawmakers under Republican leadership are investigating evidence that Casey DeSantis’ flagship project, Hope Florida, sent $5 million in Medicaid settlement funds to two groups that then passed the money onto a political committee just days later, as the Tampa Bay Times first reported.
The governor tried to defend his wife this week even as more unflattering evidence against the organization came out during a state House hearing.
“Hope Florida, because of the first lady’s vision and leadership, has made a real difference in our communities,” Gov. DeSantis told reporters Wednesday, lobbing jabs at state House Republicans and alluding to political motivations.
“There’s some people that are threatened by that. There’s some people that don’t like that. Maybe it’s because it conflicts with their vision of government first. Maybe they just don’t like seeing other people have success in the political sphere. Maybe they have their own agenda,” he said.
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez called the governor’s comments a “temper tantrum” and doubled down on criticism of the first lady’s project.
“All he does is deflect with lies and stories that never happened instead of just owning it. It is very clear by what has been put out there that Hope Florida could have been ran better, that maybe transparency would be a benefit for Hope Florida,” Perez, who has not endorsed anyone in the gubernatorial race, told reporters at the state Capitol. “He refuses to acknowledge that.”
Donalds’ office did not respond to a request for comment on Hope Florida. He visited the Florida Legislature earlier this month and avoided weighing in on the DeSantis-Perez beef.
But more than a year out from the primary, things are looking pretty good for Donalds, Binder said.
“Casey DeSantis is somebody who’s never been in elected office,” Binder said. “The fact that she is your chief rival who hasn’t even entered a race yet and is a political novice in a lot of ways — you’re in pretty good shape.”
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Claire Heddles is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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