President Trump previously encouraged Donalds to 'RUN, BYRON, RUN!'
Rep. Byron Donalds: 'The time is now' to enact Trump's agenda
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., shares the areas of GOP consensus and disagreement in the House on Saturday's episode of 'Life, Liberty, & Levin.'
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., announced his plans to run for Florida governor next year during an interview on Fox News' "Hannity" Tuesday night.
The next Florida gubernatorial election is slated to take place Nov. 3, 2026.
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Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida, said he plans to run for governor. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Donalds was endorsed by President Donald Trump, who recently wrote that his fellow Sunshine State resident "would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida."
"I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024," Trump's social media post read.
"[S]hould he decide to run, [Donalds] will have my Complete and Total Endorsement," the president added. "RUN, BYRON, RUN!"
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President Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds in the run for Florida governor. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, has not signaled support for Donalds. On Monday, DeSantis told reporters that he wants Florida congressmen to be "focused on enacting [Trump's] agenda."
"They haven’t done very much yet," DeSantis said. "They’re not putting his executive orders into place. We’ll see what they do on the spending, but we have such a narrow majority that to be trying to campaign other places and missing these votes I think is not something that’s advisable at all."
DeSantis' comments came amid rumors that his wife, Casey, might toss her hat in the ring to run in the gubernatorial race. The Florida governor dodged a reporter's question about his wife's plans at Monday's press conference.
Rumors have swirled that Casey DeSantis, the current first lady of Florida, might run for governor. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
"People ask me all the time about our wonderful first lady, who has done a fantastic job as first lady of Florida," DeSantis responded. "I will tell you this, you’re talking about somebody like her. I won by the biggest margin that any Republican has ever won a governor’s race here in Florida. She would do better than me."
Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can follow her on X at @andreamargs or send story tips to
