![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-01T181105Z_267336543_RC2IUNAME7B5_RTRMADP_3_USA-VANCE.JPG\" "\\"US")
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US Vice President JD Vance attends a midterm campaign rally to support the GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds in Lakeland, Florida, US, October 1, 2026. REUTERS\/Kevin Lamarque\/Pool<\/p>\n
Kevin Lamarque<\/p>\n
REUTERS<\/p>\n
LAKELAND<\/p>\n
Vice President J.D. Vance told a room full of Republican voters in Lakeland Thursday that Florida \u201cis facing one of the easiest choices I have ever seen in politics in my entire life,\u201d while mocking Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon and gubernatorial candidate David Jolly.<\/p>\n
Byron Donalds, the Republican running for governor, asked voters to remember that while gas prices are high now, previously Democrats were \u201cdestroying the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Republican Senate candidate Ashley Moody told the crowd the progressive democratic socialist movement is a \u201ccancer on this nation\u201d that needs to be defeated.<\/p>\n
But despite their rallying cries against Democrats at an event intended to energize the party\u2019s base, \u201clifelong Republican\u201d Thomas Ridgdill walked out of the event unconvinced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a message besides, \u2018We\u2019re not Democrats,\u2019\u201d Ridgdill, 27, said. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to say it. [Vance] has flown past his priorities and he\u2019s gone to \u2018We\u2019re not them.\u2019 I don\u2019t want \u2018not them,\u2019 I want fiscal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Spectators](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-01T202320Z_2080674819_MT1USATODAY29967547_RTRMADP_3_SPECTATORS-LEAVE-THE-SUN-N-FUN-GROUNDS-A.jpeg\" "\\"2026-10-01T202320Z_2080674819_MT1USATODAY29967547_RTRMADP_3_SPECTATORS-LEAVE-THE-SUN-N-FUN-GROUNDS-AT-LAKELAND-LINDER.JPG\\"")
Spectators leave the Sun ‘n Fun grounds at Lakeland Linder International Airport after a rally featuring Vice President JD Vance in support of Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and other Republican candidates on Oct. 1, 2026. Andy Kuppers\/The Ledger USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co <\/p>\n
He\u2019s among the loyal Republican base that the state party \u2014 and recently, the White House \u2014 are making a concerted effort to turn out to vote in November in the face of waning approval ratings for Donald Trump and an increasingly favorable electoral landscape for Democrats.<\/p>\n
While Republicans have a massive voter-registration advantage in Florida, if their voters don\u2019t turn out, Democrats are hopeful they can claw back ground this year after almost three decades of Republican control of the state.<\/p>\n
Plenty of attendees told the Herald they were all-in on every Republican up and down the ballot. Longtime Donalds supporter Betty Lou Mazuca said there\u2019s \u201cnot a chance\u201d Jolly, a former Republican, will pull voters away from Donalds in November.<\/p>\n
But even in a crowd of MAGA-hat-toting Republican voters who took a day off school and work to attend a political rally, there was some lingering skepticism about Donalds at the top of the ticket.<\/p>\n
Ridgdill said he\u2019s considering leaving that section of his November ballot blank after supporting the hard-right upstart candidate James Fishback in the Republican primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as I wish the best for him and doing a good job on our behalf, we cannot trust what he says,\u201d he said of Donalds.<\/p>\n
Ramon Hernandez, 31, is an independent voter who said he leans conservative, and drove about 30 minutes to attend the rally. He said he likes that Donalds is endorsed by \u201cpeople that we definitely align with,\u201d but \u201cis a little iffy about the data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campaign funding from companies backing data centers was one of the main issues Donalds\u2019 opponents attacked him on during the primary cycle.<\/p>\n
High schooler Gus Walsh, 15, drove from Bradenton with family to attend the rally and said he liked both Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and Donalds in the primary. He\u2019s rooting for a Donalds win in November even though he\u2019s too young to vote. But, he said he thinks the bruising primary against Donalds is still fresh in other young conservatives\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially younger people, they may go to David Jolly just out of spite for Byron Donalds because of the whole Fishback thing,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cFishback really prompted a negative image of Byron Donalds.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Donalds won Polk County, where Thursday\u2019s rally was held, neighboring Hardee County was the only Central or South Florida county he lost in the Republican gubernatorial primary. He did the worst in August in some of the state\u2019s whitest and most rural counties, primary data show<\/a>.<\/p>\n Donalds\u2019 speech ran the gamut of Republican campaign points, from slamming COVID lockdowns to border crossings.<\/p>\n But he ended with a message that dominated many of the attendees\u2019 speeches: Don\u2019t let Florida become like Democratic states. The question ahead of November is whether that pitch will be enough.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are never going to bring their crazy from California. They can have [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani in New York. They can keep the taxes in Massachusetts,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cWe want the free state of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-01T202145Z_1248985709_MT1USATODAY29967521_RTRMADP_3_U-S-REP-BYRON-DONALDS-A-CANDIDATE-FOR-FL.jpeg\" "\\"2026-10-01T202145Z_1248985709_MT1USATODAY29967521_RTRMADP_3_U-S-REP-BYRON-DONALDS-A-CANDIDATE-FOR-FLORIDA-GOVERNOR.JPG\\"")
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a candidate for Florida governor, walks onto the stage to speak at a rally featuring Vice President JD Vance in support of Donalds and other Republican candidates on Oct. 1, 2026, at the Sun ‘n Fun grounds at Lakeland Linder International Airport. Andy Kuppers\/The Ledger USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co <\/p>\n