Donald Trump continued to dominate Florida’s gubernatorial race as candidates on Friday considered responses to a video posted onthe president’s Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as apes.
Trump’s post was deleted Friday and the White House blamed a staffer following widespread backlash, including from some Republicans, over what many described as unmistakable racist imagery of the nation’s first Black president and first lady.
Trump’s endorsed candidate in the 2026 Florida governor’s race, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, is Black. A senior staffer for Donalds’ campaign told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday without elaborating that “Team Byron Donalds had called the White House and learned that a staffer had let POTUS down.” (POTUS stands for president of the United States.)
One ofDonalds’ Republican opponents, James Fishback,who is white, criticized that response from Donalds’ camp, telling the Times it was distracting from the real issues that affect Floridians.
“There’s a superficial obsession with race,” Fishback said.
In his bid to overcome Donalds’ polling and financial advantage in the primary, Fishback hasn’t been shyabout talking about race, courting racially charged language and admirers like Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist whom he won’t disavow. Fishback doesn’t apologize for using terms like “token Black” to describe Donalds’ ascension to Congress.
Fishback said the video doesn’t merit outrage because the full video depicts former President Joe Biden as a monkey, too.
“It’s a sideshow,” Fishback said. “While Byron Donalds is using his time and energy to call the White House about a cartoon video, I’m talking to voters concerned about affordability.”
Democratic candidate for governor David Jolly condemned the video, calling it “vile.”
“We’re holding a mirror up to ourselves right now,” Jolly, who is white, said in a statement Friday. “Forget about policy — this is about who we are as a people, and it’s terrifying what the answer most days seems to be.”
In January, Jolly urged the other gubernatorial candidates to denounce Fishback for aiming slurs at Donalds. On Friday, Jolly’s campaign was asked what he thought about Donalds’ response so far.
“Any candidate asking to lead the state should be swift and forthright in their condemnation,” Jolly wrote in a statement. “Byron’s making a process argument because he lacks the courage to condemn racism.”
The campaign for the other high-profile Black candidate running for governor, Democrat Jerry Demings, couldn’t be reached. Two other Republican candidates, Paul Renner and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, didn’t return requests for comment.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.