When Ron DeSantis ran for re-election in 2022, 59 sheriffs lined up to call him Florida's "Law and Order" governor – and he won by 19 points.
Byron Donalds just crossed the same threshold, and the primary is still six months away.
The man Florida's sheriffs trust to keep their neighborhoods safe just announced that 36 of Florida's 67 county sheriffs are backing his gubernatorial campaign – a majority of the state's top law enforcement officers – and the names on that list should tell Democrats everything they need to know.
The Sheriffs Aren't Playing Nice
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd doesn't do endorsements to be polite.
This is the man who told illegal aliens to go "Southbound and Down" on the eve of Trump's inauguration, who ran "Operation Fool Around and Find Out Again" and arrested 246 criminals in a single week, and who told the federal government last July that Florida sheriffs could "scoop them up in large quantities" if Washington would just "take the chain off."
Judd said Donalds will "keep criminals in jail."
He doesn't say that about people he doesn't mean it about.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said Donalds "knows families want to be safe."
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Donalds will "make sure we are all safe."
Hendry County Sheriff Steve Whidden cut straight to the character question: Donalds is "tough," "smart," and "does not back down."
This Is What a Mandate Looks Like Before the Vote
The latest American Promise poll of likely Republican primary voters shows Donalds at 44% in a four-way field – with his nearest named competitor, James Fishback, at 5%.
https://twitter.com/ByronDonalds/status/2027372558354440405?s=20
When voters are told Trump has endorsed Donalds, that number jumps to 62%.
Donalds sits at 59% among Fox News heavy viewers, 51% among self-identified "very conservative" voters, and 49% among the high-propensity primary voters who actually show up in August.
For context: Donalds has already raised more than $40 million – two and a half times what DeSantis raised at the same point in the 2018 open primary, and $3 million more than Adam Putnam raised in that entire cycle.
His opponents – Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former House Speaker Paul Renner, and businessman James Fishback – are dividing up single-digit scraps.
What Donalds Actually Promises Florida
Sheriffs are elected.
They answer to voters every four years.
When 36 of them stake their professional credibility on a candidate, they're telling you something about what their counties actually need from Tallahassee.
What they need is a governor who keeps cooperating with ICE, keeps running operations that pull child predators and human traffickers off the streets, and keeps Florida from drifting toward the sanctuary-city policies that David Jolly and the Democrats are promising to bring back.
https://twitter.com/ByronDonalds/status/2026999917244252211?s=20
Donalds said it in his new "Trusted by Sheriffs" ad: "Law enforcement will continue to be honored and respected in Florida. We will continue to lock up criminals, and we will continue to work with President Trump and his administration to remove illegal aliens from Florida."
That's not a campaign promise.
It's a commitment to continue what already works – the same framework that made Florida the state millions of Americans moved to when Biden's America stopped being safe.
Thirty-six sheriffs looked at the field and chose one man.
The voters who trust those sheriffs now know exactly who to choose.
Sources:
- Ryan Smith, "Trusted by Sheriffs" campaign statement, Friends of Byron Donalds PAC, February 26, 2026.
- Michelle Vecerina, "Trusted by Sheriffs: Byron Donalds unveils major new ad," Florida News, February 26, 2026.
- Drew Wilson, "American Promise poll: Donalds approaches 62% with Trump endorsement," Florida Politics, February 27, 2026.
- Fox News Digital, "America's Sheriff Grady Judd on Trump presidency, immigration, January 6 pardons," Fox News, January 23, 2025.
- FL Voice News, "Sheriff Grady Judd says Florida's illegal alien arrest push is outpacing federal capacity," FL Voice News, July 23, 2025.
- American Presidency Project, "DeSantis Campaign Press Release: 60 Bipartisan Florida Law Enforcement Officers Endorse Ron DeSantis for President," UCSB, 2023.
