Byron Donalds Wins Florida Governor Race, Beating David Jolly to Become the State's First Black Governor

Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won Florida's governor race on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, defeating Democrat David Jolly and becoming Florida's first Black governor. The Associated Press called the race for Donalds at 9:09 p.m. ET.

The AP results feed marks the Florida governor race as called for Donalds, with 4,099,867 votes for him and 98.47 percent of precincts reporting, or 5,548 of 5,634. The Wall Street Journal put the split at 50 percent for Donalds to 48.7 percent for Jolly, with 98 percent of the vote reported. It was a tight finish to a race Donalds had entered as the favorite.

A historic result

Donalds, 48, will replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Journal reported that he follows just three other Black governors elected in the United States since the Reconstruction era, and that all three of them were Democrats. Donalds makes that list as a Republican, and he takes the office from a Republican administration, keeping Florida's governor's office in Republican hands.

The win was built on an unusually early show of support from the top of his party. Donalds drew an extraordinarily early endorsement from President Donald Trump, and after that endorsement he easily won the Republican nomination. Most polls had given him a slight lead over Jolly going into election day, and the final count matched that picture: a clear win, but a narrow one.

The man he beat

Jolly is a former U.S. representative who ran as the Democratic nominee. His campaign kept the race close to the end. With almost all precincts reporting, he stood 1.3 percentage points behind Donalds in the Journal's figures, close enough that the call came only in the evening, at 9:09 p.m. ET.

What the race tested

The Journal reported that the contest highlighted cost of living concerns in Florida and tested Donalds' close ties to Trump. Trump won Florida in 2024 by 13 percentage points and calls the state his official residence. Donalds' win means the state that Trump calls home will now be governed by a close ally he backed early, and it sets up a new administration in Tallahassee under a governor who made history on election night.

How the night closed

Decision Desk HQ had marked its own decision earlier in the evening, at 01:28 UTC, but one decision desk on its own was not enough to settle the race. The AP feed still showed the Florida governor race as too early to call at 01:57 UTC. The AP call at 9:09 p.m. ET settled it, and AP copy carrying the result was published at 9:10 p.m. EST. That sequence is why the race is dated from the AP call: Donalds led through the count, the margin held at 50 percent to 48.7 percent with 98 percent of the vote reported, and the state's next governor was decided on election night rather than in a count that ran past it.