Ron DeSantis personally asked Byron Donalds to run the Florida Republican Party in 2018.
Now Donalds is running for governor and DeSantis won't say his name.
And that eight-year history just blew the endorsement story wide open.
The Job Offer DeSantis Made Before Everything Fell Apart
In a podcast appearance with Katie Miller this week, Donalds described what DeSantis asked him the moment he won the governorship.
"When Governor DeSantis was elected back in 2018, we had a conversation and he asked if I'd be interested in becoming state party chairman of Florida," Donalds said.
DeSantis didn't just see Donalds as a reliable vote in the Florida House.
He saw him as the man who should run the entire state Republican apparatus – the guy who would lay the foundation for everything DeSantis wanted to build.
There was a catch.
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Donalds had to first win his local Collier County executive committee chairmanship before he could be eligible for the state job.
He lost that local race.
Joe Gruters stepped in and led the Republican Party of Florida through 2023.
Donalds called the whole episode "humbling."
Florida Republican leaders told The Daily Signal that conversation from 2018 may be exactly why DeSantis refuses to endorse anyone now.
The Feud That Broke What DeSantis Built
The relationship that started with a job offer collapsed over a different kind of loyalty.
In April 2023, Donalds endorsed Trump for president.
DeSantis had staked everything on being the disciplined, ideologically serious conservative alternative – the man who could beat Trump without becoming Trump.
Donalds looked at that pitch and chose Trump anyway.
By February 2025, the governor was publicly dismissing a man he had personally recruited to lead the state party years earlier.
"You got a guy like Byron Donalds, he just hasn't been a part of any of the victories that we've had here over the Left over these last years," DeSantis said at a press conference. "He's just not been a part of it."
Donalds has been straightforward about the damage.
"I think our relationship was a little frayed after I backed President Trump," he told WPEC. "That's the way politics works. It is what it is."
He also said he still wants DeSantis' endorsement.
Good luck getting it.
The Man DeSantis Won't Stop Is Already Running Away With This Race
While DeSantis stays silent, the numbers tell the real story.
The latest Emerson College poll – conducted in late March 2026 – shows Donalds at 46% among likely Republican primary voters.
His closest opponent, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins – the man DeSantis once called "the Chuck Norris of Florida politics" – sits at 4%.
Former House Speaker Paul Renner is at 3%.
James Fishback, the conservative outsider drawing younger crowds, also gets 4%.
When Republican voters are informed of Trump's endorsement, Donalds' support jumps to 68% in head-to-head polling.
The fundraising tells the same story.
Donalds raised $22.4 million in the first quarter of 2026 alone – more than four times what all his major opponents combined.
His total war chest now tops $67 million.
Polling shows a DeSantis endorsement of Collins would flip the race – turning a 36-point deficit into a Collins lead.
That's how much power DeSantis still holds in this race.
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And that's exactly why he won't use it.
What the Silence Actually Says
One Republican elected official told The Daily Signal the 2018 conversation explains everything.
"If the governor thinks highly enough of Byron to ask him to lead the state party once he becomes governor, it's obvious that it could foreshadow him not wanting to make an endorsement that would hurt Byron," the official said.
A Florida county Republican chairman put it more bluntly.
"Look, it's clear that he does not want to step on any toes. If DeSantis likes Byron and thinks the Trump-endorsed candidate will be the next governor, he might not want to make an endorsement that will not sit well with his current lieutenant governor."
DeSantis is stuck between three people who all carried his water – Collins as the hand-picked successor, Renner as the legislative ally, and Donalds as the man he trusted before anyone else did.
Endorsing Collins to protect his legacy risks alienating Trump – whose relationship with DeSantis is still recovering from 2024.
Endorsing Donalds means publicly reversing two years of sniping at the man he can't seem to stop talking about.
Staying silent keeps everyone in play – and DeSantis relevant in a race where, polling-wise, he's already been bypassed.
Miami Young Republicans President Miguel Granda has no doubts about where this ends.
"He isn't just a successor – he's a continuation of everything that has made Florida the blueprint for the rest of America," Granda said of Donalds.
Here's what the endorsement watchers keep missing.
Donalds didn't just survive the DeSantis feud.
He won it.
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He chose Trump when it cost him something – when DeSantis was still the odds-on favorite and backing him was the safe play for any Florida Republican.
Trump won the presidency in a landslide and handed Donalds his complete endorsement.
Now Donalds is raising $22 million quarters while DeSantis stands at podiums explaining why he won't pick a side.
That's not a feud anymore.
That's a verdict.
Ron DeSantis created Byron Donalds.
He just can't bring himself to admit what he built.
Sources:
- Pedro Rodriguez, "DeSantis' Respect for Byron Donalds Could Be Why He Hasn't Endorsed a Successor, GOP Leaders Say," The Daily Signal, April 19, 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Byron Donalds says Ron DeSantis wanted him to chair Florida GOP," Florida Politics, April 14, 2026.
- Spencer Kimball, "Florida 2026 Poll: Donalds Leads GOP Primary for Governor," Emerson College Polling, March 31, 2026.
- Staff, "Byron Donalds Dominates 2026 Fundraising Race," Tampa Free Press, April 19, 2026.
- Staff, "New Poll Shows Collins Beating Donalds if DeSantis Endorses in Governor's Race," The Floridian Press, December 2025.
