Everyone needed to relax. Democrat Florida gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, a former Republican whose mind Trump broke, waged a solid campaign but came up short against Republican Byron Donalds. History was made. Donalds is the first black governor elected in Florida and in the Deep South.
It was not a shoo-in, but a win is a win. Meanwhile, the rest of the map looks iffy to awful for Republicans. But for now, Ashley Moody won her Senate race over Angie Nixon, and Donald keeps the governor’s mansion in GOP hands.
Nate Silver projected Florida to have a Democrat governor tonight. Another instance of the polls being wrong.
Decision Desk HQ projects Byron Donalds wins the FL Governor General Election #DecisionMade: 8:28 PM EST Follow live results here: https://t.co/kBjHEsIg6m https://t.co/BCbRqkHmFr
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 4, 2026
RACE CALL: Byron Donalds (R) wins Florida Governor https://t.co/tyY7GO994i
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 4, 2026
Nate Silver’s model has Florida electing a Democrat governor for the first time since 1994.Same guy who had Hillary at 70%+ in 2016.Polls don’t vote. Floridians do. Show up.https://t.co/XmUkVjmH1Z
— Vitruvius Republic 🇺🇸 (@realMAG1775) November 1, 2026
DDHQ: Byron Donalds wins the Florida Governor’s race 🟥Republican hold https://t.co/8wQcXdRbnj
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) November 4, 2026
🚨 Florida Republican candidates are now taking narrow leads statewide but this is not what we want to see out of a red state If we did not have the GOP registration advantage we did? WE'D BE TOAST.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 4, 2026
Bonus: This exchange was hilarious
Transgender veteran criticizes U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds over viral confrontation https://t.co/laPYRShrVG
— WFTV Channel 9 (@WFTV) October 29, 2026
Byron: "Sir..." Trans person: "I'm not a sir. I'm a MA'AM." Another meme is born courtesy of Florida's next Governor. 🤣 https://t.co/qagxdPoHr9
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 23, 2026