New Yorkers have been fleeing to Florida for years – and they all say the same thing when they get there.
Now the man running to be Florida's next governor just put that feeling into words.
And what Byron Donalds said on Newsmax Wednesday explains exactly why he's the front-runner.
The One Thing Blue States Can't Give You
Donalds has been crisscrossing Florida, talking to voters about insurance costs, property taxes, and road construction.
But when a Newsmax host asked him why people keep leaving blue states for Florida, Donalds didn't reach for a policy white paper.
https://twitter.com/WatchSalemNews/status/2054306127765029309?s=20
He reached for something simpler.
"They're coming for the common sense," Donalds said. "They're coming for the conservative policy. And mostly they're coming to have a state that just leaves you alone."
What Newsom and Hochul Built – and Who's Running From It
California lost over $12 billion in adjusted gross income to out-migration over the past decade.
New York shed nearly $10 billion.
Gavin Newsom did that.
Kathy Hochul did that.
The Heritage Foundation's analysis of Census Bureau data found the same pattern every single time: blue states dominate the list of places with the biggest outflows, and seven of the top ten net migration destination states are governed by Republican trifectas.
People aren't moving because of the weather.
They're moving because the people running those states spent decades making them unlivable – and Florida became the alternative.
https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2054696342530752589?s=20
Donalds put it in the words he actually hears from new arrivals: "People, whether they're coming from New York or California, Illinois, they come to Florida and they say, 'Thank God I got here. I should have came five years ago.'"
Keeping Florida, Florida
The thing that separates Donalds from a standard politician is he doesn't just describe what Florida is.
He describes what it takes to keep it that way.
"You can't take anything for granted," Donalds said. "You have to make sure you stand firm on principles first."
Florida has no state income tax. Governor DeSantis is pushing a constitutional amendment to eliminate property taxes on primary residences entirely.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2050570733378543966?s=20
California is moving in the opposite direction – threatening to tax billionaires' paper wealth before any law even exists.
Every New Yorker who lands in Florida and says "I should have done this five years ago" is a walking verdict against everything Newsom and Hochul built.
Donalds wants to be the governor who keeps winning that verdict.
Trump endorsed him. Rick Scott endorsed him. The polling shows a margin that makes the primary essentially a formality.
But Donalds isn't running like a man with a 40-point lead.
He's running like a man who knows exactly what happens the moment Florida stops being the state that leaves you alone – and refuses to let that happen on his watch.
Sources:
- Sam Barron, "Rep. Donalds to Newsmax: People Move to Florida for 'Common Sense,'" Newsmax, May 13, 2026.
- "Why Are Americans Fleeing Blue States for Red States?" The Heritage Foundation, 2026.
- IRS Statistics of Income Division, "SOI Tax Stats – Migration Data," IRS.gov, 2024.
