Florida State Senator Bryan Ávila speaks after U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, at left, selected Avila as his running mate in Donald’s campaign for governor at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, Florida, on Monday, August 24, 2026.
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ
adiaz@miamiherald.com
Longtime state lawmaker and Hialeah native Bryan Ávila is joining Byron Donalds on the campaign trail as Republicans’ lieutenant governor candidate.
Working with DeSantis
The Florida National Guardsman has been in the state Legislature since 2014 representing parts of Hialeah and Miami-Dade County — overlapping with Donalds for four years in the state House and joining the state senate four years ago.
Ávila, 42, played a key role implementing parts of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda in Tallahassee throughout his tenure in the Legislature. The selection of Ávila as Donalds’ running mate comes after DeSantis has done little to help Donalds’ candidacy to succeed him.
DeSantis didn’t endorse any candidate during the Republican primary cycle and has publicly criticized Donalds in the past, saying he “just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here.” After Ávila’s announcement as Donalds’ running mate, DeSantis wrote on social media that “Senator Avila is a good dude. I’ve always appreciated his service in the National Guard.”
Capitol Policy
Ávila sponsored Florida’s Stop WOKE Act, a law aimed to restrict how Florida teachers discussed race and gender in classrooms, introduced as DeSantis aggressively targeted classroom instruction ahead of his presidential run. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit recently upheld a lower court ruling that struck that partially law down as unconstitutional.
More recently, Ávila sponsored the legislation to put a constitutional amendment cutting property taxes on the ballot in November. DeSantis initially spearheaded the initiative, but backed off full-throated support after the Legislature removed the part of his initial proposal reducing taxes paid to school districts and rejected DeSantis’ plan for a state trust fund that some Republicans said would put local governments’ funding at the mercy of the state’s whims.
Ávila also led recent legislation that could help Donalds combat the narrative his Republican opponents used against him throughout the primary cycle: that he’s too permissive of data centers coming into Florida.
Ávila sponsored a bill this year increasing local governments’ power over data centers, and requiring them to pay certain tariffs, DeSantis supported the law, but it flew against Donald Trump’s desire for the regulation of data centers and AI to be handled at the federal level.
Ávila, though, could come under attack for another data-center bill he sponsored that failed to pass this year that would have given data centers a special public records exemption and kept certain planning documents confidential.
READ MORE: Donalds names Hialeah’s Bryan Avila as his running mate in campaign for governor
Local disputes
Locally, Ávila has been a longtime critic of Miami-Dade County’s government, supporting legislation that stripped county control of the toll board overseeing local expressways and rewriting the rules on how the County Commission can approve contracts at Miami International Airport.
Personal life
Ávila’s parents fled Cuba, landing in Hialeah, and he’s pointed to that personal background as part of his impetus to co-sponsor legislation requiring Florida public schools to teach about “the increasing threat of communism in the United States.”
The captain in the Florida National Guard has two young kids and has attended Miami Dade College, University of Miami and Florida International University over the years. In a statement announcing his selection Tuesday, Donalds touted Ávila’s personal life as part of his appeal.
“Bryan Avila is a proven conservative, a dedicated public servant, a military officer, and most importantly, a husband and father who understands exactly what is at stake for Florida families,” Donalds said.
Miami Herald staff writers Churchill Ndonwie and Doug Hanks contributed to this report.
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Miami Herald
Claire Heddles is the Miami Herald’s senior political correspondent. She previously covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C at NOTUS. She’s also worked as a public radio reporter covering local government and education in East Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida.