The Florida Chamber of Commerce has formally endorsed Byron Donalds for Governor, throwing the state’s most influential business organization behind the Republican front-runner.
During a news conference held alongside the 2026 Florida Learners to Earners Workforce Solutions Summit, Florida Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson said the endorsement reflects Donalds’ record on issues the business community considers critical to the state’s continued growth, including workforce development, affordability, infrastructure and regulatory reform.
“Byron Donalds has spent a career in business. He understands local business issues,” Wilson said. “He clearly understands what it means to sign the front of a paycheck, and he’s clearly spent a career championing local businesses throughout Florida.”
Wilson noted that Donalds earned a 96% voting record with the Chamber during his service in the Florida House and holds a lifetime “A” rating from the organization.
Accepting the endorsement, Donalds cast Florida as the nation’s economic model and pledged to focus on issues ranging from taxes and insurance to housing, education, energy and healthcare if elected.
“We have become the state that everybody in America, and quite frankly, the world is going to chase innovation, to chase that entrepreneurial spirit, to build dreams, to raise their children. It’s all happening here in the great state of Florida,” Donalds said.
“There was another state that was like this 50 years ago. It used to be the state of innovation. It was a state of great weather. It was a state where people had big dreams. That state was California. They used to call it the California dream. The California dream has become a California nightmare. Today in America, people are chasing the Florida dream.”
Donalds said his goal would be to build the foundation for decades of economic growth, including expanding energy generation through additional natural gas capacity and emerging nuclear technologies while continuing Florida’s low-tax, low-regulation approach to government.
Asked whether he would participate in Republican Primary debates, Donalds said he would do so only if his opponents demonstrate they have become competitive campaigns.
“If they were viable … we would debate tomorrow. I would not hesitate,” Donalds said. “Political campaigns, these are not charities, these are competitions. … If I’m applying for a job, it’s not my responsibility to help my competitor get a job interview. That’s their job.”
