Southwest Florida congressman Byron Donalds took one step closer to becoming the state's first-ever Black governor Tuesday, defeating the sitting lieutenant governor and a former state House speaker in the Republican primary.
Donalds, who is 47, with 80% of the vote counted Tuesday night held the lead with 49%, far ahead of his opponents.
He will now face former GOP-congressman-turned-Democrat David Jolly, who had no serious opponent in his party's primary, in the November election.
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Current Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis cannot seek a third consecutive term and must leave office in January. He took little public interest in the race, even declining to endorse Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, whom he elevated to that role from the state Senate after his running mate left to run one of the state universities.
It's unclear whether DeSantis' backing would have made a difference. Donalds, who has been a vocal and public supporter of Donald Trump despite the president's decades-long history of racism, received Trump's endorsement when he first began his campaign a year ago. He has led in the polls by wide margins from the outset.
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Florida, which was one of the 11 Confederate states that broke away from the United States to protect the ability of white people to own Black slaves, came within 32,000 votes of electing a Black governor eight years ago, when Democrat Andrew Gillum narrowly lost to DeSantis.
Since then, however, Florida has seen a surge of GOP population growth that has given Republicans a considerable advantage in statewide elections.
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