TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WWSB) – Florida’s two major candidates for governor held controlled rallies in Tallahassee on the same day, one week before Election Day. They did not appear together on a debate stage.
Congressman Byron Donalds appeared on stage with Florida’s chief financial officer, who is his running mate, and local elected officials.
Donalds spoke about consistency.
“My sons will tell you, dad is consistent. He gets on us about the same thing, doesn’t matter what the child is,” Donalds said. “Because there’s consistency in a home, it’s how you have strong kids, it’s how you have healthy families. Politically, yeah, we require consistency in our country.”
Neither Donalds nor his surrogates mentioned President Donald Trump in their speeches. The crowd was all Republican.
Gubernatorial candidates court voters ahead of Nov. 3 election
David Jolly faces long odds to win, perhaps as low as 20% on some prediction markets. A recent UNF poll showed the race could be a toss-up.
“And frankly, we’re a nation and a state that’s exhausted by those politics. And we’re feeling the results of those politics,” Jolly said.
If Donalds wins, he would become the first Black governor in Florida history. He may need to mend fences with the Legislature, which previously launched investigations into the governor’s office and modified the governor’s priorities on property taxes.
“How we’re going to conduct ourselves is we’re going to meet, you know, pretty frequently, make sure that there’s clear lines of communication about how we’re going to put forward the right policies to lower costs for the people in our state,” Donalds said.
Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.