Byron Donalds is polling near 50 percent with Trump's endorsement and his opponents are fighting over single digits.
Ron DeSantis won't endorse him – and Donalds just buried that story in six words.
"We have term limits," Donalds said Monday, and that was it.
DeSantis Still Carrying a Grudge From 2024
The cold shoulder started when Donalds did something DeSantis hasn't forgiven – he backed Donald Trump over the Governor in the 2024 presidential race.
DeSantis fired the first shot earlier this year, telling anyone who would listen that Donalds "hasn't been a part of any of the victories that we've had here over the Left over these last years."
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Strong words. Donalds' response was even stronger because it was calm.
"It is what it is," Donalds told the HotCakes and Hot Takes podcast Monday. "I'm not going to get mad about it. He's done a great job. He's done a great job for the state. No doubt about that. Nobody could take that away from him. But we have term limits. We're going to have a new Governor in six months and a week."
When a man running away with his primary tells you he's not concerned, believe him.
The Numbers Tell the Story DeSantis Won't
Emerson College polling puts Donalds at 46 percent in the Republican primary.
His nearest competition – Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins – is sitting at 4 percent.
That is not a race.
That is a coronation.
And it gets worse for anyone hoping DeSantis' silent treatment means something.
Trump endorsed Donalds in February, writing on Truth Social that he would be "a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida."
When Florida GOP primary voters were told about that endorsement, Donalds' support in the Fabrizio Lee poll jumped to 68 percent.
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders endorsed him.
Jeff Landry endorsed him. Rick Scott endorsed him.
House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed him.
Seventeen members of Florida's congressional delegation endorsed him.
Ron DeSantis has endorsed no one.
Florida Has Seen This Movie Before
Here's something the media won't tell you – this exact thing happened last time.
When DeSantis was inaugurated in 2019, Scott walked out before DeSantis even spoke – off to Washington for his own Senate swearing-in.
Before he left, Scott had quietly stacked state boards and judgeships with nearly 90 last-minute appointments, some filed hours before the transfer of power, catching the incoming administration flat-footed.
DeSantis spent his first week rescinding them.
The two men have barely spoken in seven years.
Now DeSantis is playing the Scott role – the term-limited former executive watching his preferred version of Florida's future get steamrolled by Trump's pick.
https://twitter.com/ByronDonalds/status/2063689949753516231?s=20
The voters moved on.
The outgoing governor didn't.
Donalds Has Trump, $45 Million, and Six Months to Wait
Byron Donalds is going to be the next Governor of Florida. The polling says it.
The fundraising says it – he raised $45 million in 2025, a record for a Florida gubernatorial cycle at this stage.
DeSantis' silence isn't a threat.
It's a man who ran against Trump, lost, went home, and now has to watch the man Trump chose inherit everything he built.
Donalds isn't angry about it.
He doesn't need to be.
The clock is running.
Florida conservatives are ready for what comes next.
Sources:
- A.G. Gancarski, "Byron Donalds 'not concerned' about Ron DeSantis' cold shoulder," Florida Politics, June 8, 2026.
- Spencer Kimball, "Florida 2026 Poll: Donalds Leads GOP Primary for Governor," Emerson College Polling, April 2, 2026.
- Mike Jenkins, "Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry Backs Byron Donalds In Florida's 2026 Gubernatorial Race," Tampa Free Press, 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Hope Florida fallout drives another Rick Scott rebuke of Ron DeSantis," Florida Politics, December 6, 2025.
