Byron Donalds Wins Florida Governorship in Narrow Victory

Byron Donalds secured the governorship of Florida in Tuesday's midterm election.

The Republican candidate defeated Democratic challenger David Jolly by a margin of just over 100,000 votes. NBC News projections confirmed the result after a closely contested race that determined the successor to Ron DeSantis.

Donalds, 47, will officially take office on Tuesday, January 5, 2027. His four-year term will run until 2031, following the end of DeSantis's current mandate.

The victor resides in Naples with his wife and three sons: Damon, Darin, and Mason. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised by a single mother. Donalds graduated from Florida State University in 2002 with a degree in finance and marketing.

He entered state politics in 2016 when elected to the Florida House of Representatives. He served in that chamber until 2020. In that same year, voters in Florida's 19th Congressional District elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives. The district covers portions of Lee and Collier counties.

Donalds is a political ally of President Donald Trump, who endorsed his gubernatorial bid. He becomes the first Black person to serve as Florida governor and the first Black Republican elected to that office in the nation.