(WSVN) - Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds has been campaigning for governor all across Florida, as he aims to become the state’s first African-American governor.
Donalds attended an event at the Bay of Pigs Museum & Library in Miami on Friday, and he also spoke at a town hall in Tallahassee.
The 47-year-old candidate did not speak at Florida State University, where he earned his degree, but at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
“Did you graduate from FAMU?” an attendee asked.
“No, I was a student for three years,” Donalds replied.
Donalds, a Brooklyn, New York native, has represented Florida’s 19th congressional district, one of the most conservative in the state, for the last six years.
“Everything in my life has been built in Florida. So, whether it’s my time in the private sector and banking insurance or financial services, 17 years, my time in the state house or the U.S. house, one thing is clear: My commitment is to Florida,” Donalds said.
Between his campaign and the political action committee with ties to President Donald Trump, Donalds’ war chest of $146 million dwarfs all of his competitors by a massive margin. Could that money from out-of-state donors and various interests affect his policy priorities?
“I think we do have a lot of people, a lot of interests, who are supporting us because they do business in the state of Florida. They want to make sure that Florida continues to be a business-friendly state,” Donalds said.
Donalds said he champions school choice.
“In our state, the money follows the child. It’s not state government defunding traditional public schools; that’s not what happens. It’s parents are making a decision about where they want to get their child educated, and the state makes sure that we’re funding the education of the children in Florida,” Donalds said.
He vowed that his wife’s past involvement in the charter school industry does not present a conflict of interest.
“It’s not even a conflict. My wife did manage other charter schools. She no longer manages those schools. They’ve actually been turned over, the operations and the management, to the people who founded those schools,” Donalds said.
A campaign advertisement about affordability features the couple.
“When we got married, we worked two jobs each, and we were still broke,” his wife said in the advertisement.
Donalds’ three sons are featured in another advertisement.
If elected, he would be Florida’s first African-American governor, but Democratic opponent David Jolly said the Republican’s agenda is anti-Black.
Donalds reacted to his opponent’s description of his agenda.
“You know, for him to say I have an anti-Black agenda is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s just pure talking points, pure politics,” Donalds said. “And to be honest, I find it quite hypocritical, because this is somebody who, out one side of his mouth will say he doesn’t want to do divisive politics, but then at the other side of his mouth, he says things like this, but doesn’t even have the courage of his convictions to be on the debate stage and debate me directly.”
Jolly declined a debate, but Donalds said he likes where polling shows his campaign and is confident voters will send him back to Tallahassee as governor.
“We’re going to continue to work hard every single day to earn the vote from the people of Florida on November 3rd,” Donalds said.
7News presented the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates with essentially the same list of questions.
7News requested an in-person interview. Jolly’s campaign granted that request, while Donalds’ campaign could only make him available via a virtual interview.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.