Ron DeSantis spent a year promising to crush property taxes and then walked away the moment it got hard.
Byron Donalds just picked up the fight.
Now the sheriff who endorsed him is calling Amendment 3 a train wreck – and Donalds just exposed exactly why.
Donalds Takes the Fight No One Else Would
DeSantis finally got Amendment 3 onto the November ballot and then announced he wouldn't campaign for it.
"What the Legislature did wasn't my proposal," DeSantis said.
Donalds drove to The Villages last week and told a packed crowd something different.
"I'm voting yes because the people of Florida are not a never-ending piggybank," he said.
That's not a poll-tested talking point.
That's a man who grew up in Naples, went to Florida State, and understands that the state millions of Americans moved to for freedom is pricing out the very people who built it.
https://twitter.com/Bannons_WarRoom/status/2085379392872542319?s=20
Donalds has spent at least $10 million on television ads hammering the property tax message, including a spot showing him playing basketball with his three sons.
"My boys deserve the same shot I got – but Florida's pricing out our future," Donalds said in the ad.
He's not just talking either.
If Amendment 3 passes, Donalds has pledged to build a funding formula that protects smaller and rural counties from revenue losses.
If it fails to hit 60 percent, he'll take the fight to Florida's Constitution Revision Commission – which convenes in 2027 – and demand a top-to-bottom overhaul.
Either way, Florida homeowners are getting relief.
The Establishment Is Terrified and It Shows
Trump endorsed Donalds.
Rick Scott endorsed him.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Jeff Landry endorsed him.
Thirteen county property appraisers endorsed him this week.
He leads the Republican primary field at 43 percent with three weeks to go, and nobody is within 30 points.
But now that Donalds owns Amendment 3, the government-protection crowd is showing its cards.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd – the same Grady Judd who endorsed Donalds for governor earlier this year – held a press conference this week and called Amendment 3 "the most ludicrous piece of unresearched stuff I've seen."
The Florida Sheriffs Association announced it's "significantly concerned."
The Fraternal Order of Police, representing 24,000 Florida officers, formally opposed it.
The Florida Fire Chiefs Association said the amendment leaves fire protection and emergency services without a sustainable replacement funding source.
Here's what none of them mentioned: the Florida House passed language requiring local governments to hold law enforcement and firefighter budgets at current levels before any cuts could happen.
The Florida Senate killed it.
The sheriffs and police unions aren't worried about public safety.
They're worried about losing control of local government revenue.
Florida Homeowners Have Waited Long Enough
Amendment 3 would increase Florida's homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000 in two stages – $150,000 starting January 1, 2027, then the full $250,000 in 2028.
A state fiscal analysis estimates that keeps nearly $4.93 billion a year in homeowners' pockets instead of flowing to county bureaucracies.
That's why the bureaucracies are fighting it.
A University of North Florida poll found 68 percent of Republicans still back Amendment 3 even after hearing the full fiscal estimate.
Democrats, as usual, are hiding.
David Jolly, the leading Democratic candidate for governor, says he's withholding judgment until the ballot language is finalized – which is political code for "I don't have the guts to take a position."
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2083272995695399344?s=20
A circuit court judge ordered the ballot summary rewritten this week, ruling the title "Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes" functions as a political advertisement, not a legal description.
The courts want softer language.
The sheriffs want their budgets protected.
DeSantis walked away.
Byron Donalds is still standing in The Villages telling Florida families they are not a piggybank – and he's the only one in this race with Trump's endorsement and the spine to mean it.
Sources:
- Gary Fineout, "Donalds takes role as biggest backer of Florida's property tax measure," POLITICO, August 6, 2026.
- "Byron Donalds focuses on affordability as Republican rivals scramble for momentum," WPTV/Associated Press, July 31, 2026.
- "13 Florida property appraisers back Byron Donalds for governor," FL Voice News, August 4, 2026.
- "Florida's property-tax amendment faces growing opposition with little organized support to counter it," WFLX, August 5, 2026.
- "More akin to a political slogan: Judge orders rewrite of property tax amendment's ballot language," Florida Politics, August 4, 2026.
- "Sheriffs, police, firefighters groups sound alarm over property tax measure," Washington County News, August 4, 2026.
- Florida Sheriffs Association statement on Amendment 3, August 3, 2026.
