Donald Trump handed Byron Donalds the golden ticket to Florida's governor's mansion with his endorsement.
DeSantis watched his succession plan crumble overnight.
And Trump's pick for Florida governor just got blindsided by Ron DeSantis' revenge plan.
Trump's endorsement was supposed to end the race before it started
Byron Donalds had every reason to believe he'd coast to victory in Florida's 2026 governor's race.
Trump gave him the nod back in February with the kind of full-throated endorsement that usually clears Republican primary fields overnight.
The Naples congressman raked in $22 million in donations, dominated every poll with leads over 40%, and earned support from top Republican officials across the state.¹
Florida became America's reddest state under Trump and DeSantis.
Republicans outnumber Democrats by 1.3 million registered voters.
The GOP controls every statewide office.
Whoever wins the Republican primary walks into the governor's mansion — no general election drama required.
But instead of watching rivals drop out and fall in line, Donalds is getting attacked from all sides by Republicans who smell blood in the water.
DeSantis is working behind the scenes to destroy Trump's chosen successor
Ron DeSantis isn't making peace with the Trump-Donalds alliance.
The governor has been making phone calls to Florida lobbyists with a simple message: keep your powder dry and don't back Donalds.²
Seven people familiar with the pressure campaign confirmed DeSantis and his top political staffers are actively working to cut off Donalds' fundraising from Tallahassee insiders.
DeSantis even flew to New York to personally pitch GOP megadonor Ken Griffin on funding a Donalds challenger.
The governor held a private dinner in Miami with Griffin and major Republican donors in June, then golfed with them at a political fundraiser in Fishers Island trying to convince them to back Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins instead.³
Griffin turned him down both times.
The governor's anger at Donalds goes back to 2023 when the congressman endorsed Trump over DeSantis in the presidential primary.
DeSantis hasn't forgotten that betrayal.
When Donalds entered the governor's race, DeSantis took a public shot at him: "You got a guy like Byron. He just hasn't been a part of any of the victories that we've had here over the left over these last years."⁴
A 30-year-old political unknown just called Trump's pick "a slave"
The chaos escalated last week when James Fishback jumped into the race with the most inflammatory press conference Florida politics has seen in years.
The 30-year-old investment firm CEO stood in front of reporters in Tallahassee and called Byron Donalds — who would be Florida's first Black governor — "a slave" to corporate donors and tech interests.⁵
"Byron Donalds is a slave. He's a slave to his donors, he is a slave to the corporate interests, to the tech bros that want to run our state," Fishback declared.⁶
He attacked Donalds' decades-old marijuana and bribery arrests that were dismissed and expunged.
He referenced a poll showing Donalds at 43% support with 51% of voters still undecided, claiming the congressman is "losing to a candidate called undecided."⁷
Fishback's campaign immediately drew fire from Trump world.
Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz publicly slammed him as a "total scam artist."⁸
Donalds' campaign chief strategist Ryan Smith dismissed Fishback as "an anti-Trump RINO" who will "get crushed in the Republican primary."⁹
But here's what matters: Fishback is echoing DeSantis' talking points nearly word-for-word.
He's pledging to eliminate property taxes, ban H-1B visas, and block AI data centers — all positions that sound like they came straight from the governor's playbook.
Fishback openly praised DeSantis as "the greatest governor in the history" of Florida and says he hopes to earn both DeSantis' and Trump's support.¹⁰
Collins keeps teasing a run while DeSantis-funded ads blanket central Florida
Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins hasn't officially entered the race, but he's acting like a candidate.
A mysterious group called Florida Fighters just dropped $3.5 million on TV ads promoting Collins in central Florida.¹¹
The spots highlight his military service as a Green Beret and claim he's "fighting alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis to keep Florida free."
Collins played coy when asked about the ads: "I'm very grateful for whatever group that was."¹² Translation: DeSantis is bankrolling his backup plan.
The lieutenant governor admitted he's made a decision about running but won't announce yet.
He told reporters in Miami before Thanksgiving: "Maybe it's when we launch. Maybe it's down the road. It's about math. Where do you get the biggest bang for the buck?"¹³
That sounds like a candidate waiting for DeSantis to give him the greenlight and full backing.
Eight Republican operatives confirmed to POLITICO that Collins' delay stems from failing to secure an "ironclad guarantee" that DeSantis would endorse him.¹⁴
The governor publicly trashed former House Speaker Paul Renner's candidacy as "ill-advised" but won't commit to Collins either.¹⁵
DeSantis wants someone to beat Donalds.
He just can't figure out who that someone should be.
Trump's team knows exactly what DeSantis is doing
The White House isn't blind to DeSantis' scheming.
One GOP operative confirmed that Trump's team knows about the governor's efforts to recruit and fund a Donalds challenger.
"They know. It's OK for now as long as it ends sometime soon," the operative said.¹⁶
That "for now" qualifier matters.
If DeSantis succeeds in getting Collins or another credible challenger into the race with serious financial backing,
Florida could become the next battlefield in the Trump-DeSantis proxy war that dominated the 2024 presidential primary.
A November poll conducted by Ryan Tyson — a well-known Florida Republican pollster — found Donalds getting 58% support when voters were told Trump endorsed him, compared to low single digits for other candidates.¹⁷
DeSantis won his own 2018 GOP primary with 56% after Trump's endorsement.¹⁸
The numbers suggest Trump's backing should be enough.
But polls are worthless if DeSantis floods the zone with attack ads from outside groups and Collins finally jumps in with the governor's full support.
One longtime Republican consultant summed up DeSantis' mindset: "He just knows he doesn't want Byron to be governor, but there isn't a solid plan to stop him."¹⁹
Donalds tried to take the high road when asked about DeSantis.
"I want to have his support. I want to have his endorsement," Donalds told WPEC in April. "I think our relationship was a little frayed after I backed President Trump. That's the way politics works."²⁰
That's one way to describe it.
Another way: Florida's Republican establishment is tearing itself apart over loyalty to Trump versus loyalty to DeSantis, and the 2026 governor's race just became a referendum on which man really controls the party.
¹ Javier Manjarres, "Scoop: Byron Donalds announces $22 million haul in Florida governor race," Axios, July 1, 2025.
² Gary Fineout, "Ron DeSantis' team is urging Florida lobbyists not to back Rep. Byron Donalds for governor," NBC News, March 19, 2025.
³ Peter Nicholas, "Despite Ron DeSantis' lobbying, megadonor Ken Griffin stays on the sidelines in Florida governor's race," NBC News, November 19, 2025.
⁴ Mitch Perry, "DeSantis disses Donalds, touts First Lady, when asked about 2026 governor race," Florida Phoenix, February 24, 2025.
⁵ Christine Sexton, "James Fishback enters governor's race; hurls insults at leading Republican Byron Donalds," Florida Phoenix, November 24, 2025.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Gary Fineout, "Trump's pick to replace DeSantis faces a Republican pile-on in Florida," POLITICO, November 30, 2025.
⁹ Sexton, Florida Phoenix.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Fineout, POLITICO.
¹² – ¹⁹ Ibid.
²⁰ A.G. Gancarski, "Byron Donalds says relationship with Ron DeSantis still 'frayed' after backing Donald Trump," Florida Politics, April 15, 2025.
