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Op-ed

The Conservative Case for Byron Donalds

By Sam RomainChairman, Polk County Republican Executive Committee

Banker, state legislator and Trump-endorsed congressman Byron Donalds, with running mate Sen. Bryan Avila, is running to keep Florida on the course Gov. Ron DeSantis set.

Eight years ago, Florida chose a governor who kept schools open, cut taxes and stood up for parents. On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Florida voters decide who carries that work forward. The Republican answer is Byron Donalds for Governor and Bryan Avila for Lieutenant Governor.

Donalds won the Republican nomination on August 18 with 47.8% of the vote and 811,131 votes, nearly double the second-place finisher in an eleven-way field. President Donald J. Trump gave him his "Complete and Total Endorsement" on Truth Social on February 20, 2025, before he even entered the race. His opponent is Democrat David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who left the party.

From Brooklyn to the Florida Dream

Byron Donalds was raised in Brooklyn, New York, by a single mother. He came to Florida for college and earned a bachelor's degree in finance and marketing from Florida State University in 2002.

He then spent more than a decade in banking, finance and insurance, starting as a credit analyst at TIB Bank and later working as a financial advisor at Wells Fargo Advisors. He knows what a family budget looks like because he spent years reading balance sheets for a living.

He and his wife, Erika, live in Naples and are raising three sons, Damon, Darin and Mason. He has served as a youth leader and mentor in his church and as a volunteer coach in youth football and basketball leagues. School choice is personal for the family: Erika founded a classical charter school in Collier County because their own children needed more than their assigned school offered.

Donalds has also been open about mistakes he made as a young man, and he says he has owned up to them. His story is the one Florida tells about itself: you can come here, work hard and build something.

A record in Tallahassee and Washington

Voters in Hendry and Collier counties sent Donalds to the Florida House in 2016 and re-elected him. There he chaired the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee, the panel that deals with the property insurance costs Polk homeowners feel every year.

His biggest fight in Tallahassee was for parents. In 2018 he was the House sponsor of HB 1, the Hope Scholarship Program, which created scholarships for bullied students to move to another school, funded by sales tax revenue that taxpayers can choose to direct to scholarship organizations. The program became law that year as part of the education package HB 7055 (Chapter 2018-6). He also co-sponsored HB 577 (Chapter 2018-154), which lets students count apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship credit toward high school graduation.

In 2020 he won Florida's 19th Congressional District, and he has served in the U.S. House since January 3, 2021. His colleagues thought enough of him to nominate him for Speaker of the House in January 2023, when he drew 20 votes on three straight ballots.

His votes match the values of Polk County Republicans:

Lowering taxes, starting with your home

Polk families pay property taxes every year on homes they already own. Donalds wants to end that. After a campaign stop in Tampa on August 31, he said that, whether or not Amendment 3 passes, he will use Florida's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to do "a full top to bottom review of all taxes and fees, still setting a goal for repealing homestead property taxes in Florida overall."

If the full repeal does not add up, he said he would target relief to seniors living "Social Security check, Social Security check" and to working families. That is a governor who starts from the taxpayer's side of the table.

Florida's property tax collections, he points out, "doubled in our state... from 32 billion dollars in 2019 to almost 57 billion dollars this year." He supports the homestead exemption amendment on this November's ballot, which raises the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, but calls it a first step. "Citizens aren't a piggy bank for government," he said. For small, fiscally constrained counties, he has proposed a state funding formula so they are not left behind.

On insurance, he says his plan "will lower insurance premiums 20% in Florida" by keeping the DeSantis tort reforms, expanding home-hardening programs and speeding up rebuilding permits after a storm. "The quicker you can rebuild, the cheaper it is," he said. On health care, he would require Florida hospitals and clinics to post cash prices for their 20 most common procedures.

He also wants to reform permitting to push down the cost of construction so more families can afford a home, and to make sure students who do not go to college have internships and apprenticeships before they graduate high school. "If you're not going to the colleges or the universities, well, let's actually partner that child with a local business, so they can actually learn skills and get an apprenticeship," he said.

On immigration, his "Zero Tolerance, Zero Dollars" plan would pull state grants from local governments, agencies and nonprofits that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement. "If you're gonna get state money, you have a responsibility to follow the law," he said. He calls himself "a Second Amendment absolutist" and wants to repeal the part of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas law that keeps most Floridians under 21 from buying firearms.

Continuing what Gov. DeSantis built

On September 1, at the Republican Party of Florida Leadership Forum in Tampa, Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed Donalds and the rest of the statewide Republican ticket. "I'm endorsing the slate here tonight... because I know it's important for the state of Florida," DeSantis said. Donalds answered: "My mission as the state's next governor is to build on the success of Ron DeSantis to make sure that all of you can be free, and we continue to be the best state in all of America."

The ticket has said plainly that it is running to build on the DeSantis record. At the Freedom Tower in Miami on August 25, Bryan Avila said the ticket would "build on Governor DeSantis' conservative legacy, make Florida more affordable for working families, keep our communities safe and defend the freedom that has made our state the envy of the nation."

Avila brings his own record. The son of Cuban exiles, he was born in Hialeah and served eight years in the Florida House, including two as Speaker Pro Tempore, before moving to the Florida Senate in 2022. There he chaired the Finance and Tax Committee, which writes Florida's tax law. He is a captain in the Florida Army National Guard.

In his words: "My parents escaped communist Cuba because they believed America offered something socialism never could: freedom and the opportunity to build a better future for their children."

Backed by the badge, and present in Polk

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd endorsed Donalds and introduced him at a standing-room-only rally at Reececliff Family Diner in Lakeland on April 24. Judd is one of 36 of Florida's 67 county sheriffs backing him. The Florida Police Benevolent Association, the state's largest law enforcement union with 31,000 officers, endorsed him too, as did the Florida Police Chiefs Association and the Florida State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police. "Our law enforcement officers risk everything for us, and as governor, I will always have their backs," Donalds said. Rep. Jennifer Canady of Lakeland spoke at that rally, and Rep. Hilary Holley and School Board member Kate Wallace were in the room.

Donalds came back to Lakeland on September 3 and told LkldNow that growth and infrastructure are the issues he hears about most here. On the data centers that worry many Polk residents, he was direct: "If local governments and communities decide they don't want a data center, then they will not have a data center." On October 1, Vice President JD Vance rallied in Lakeland for Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody.

The clear contrast

Byron Donalds (Republican) is a former banker, a two-term state legislator and a three-term congressman endorsed by President Trump. He voted to keep boys out of girls' sports and to detain illegal immigrants charged with crimes, and he wants to repeal homestead property taxes.

David Jolly (Democrat) spent years as a Washington lobbyist and served one full term in Congress before losing his seat in 2016. He left the Republican Party in 2018, built a career as an MSNBC commentator and registered as a Democrat in 2025. He says Republicans have "conflated immigration and crime," which he called wrong and immoral. He wants to replace Florida's six-week abortion limit with abortion legal until viability, and he would move to legalize recreational marijuana even though he voted against it himself. On property taxes, he has called the Republican approach irresponsible.

One candidate wants to carry the DeSantis record forward. The other left the Republican Party and now runs on undoing much of it.

Why Polk should vote Donalds and Avila

  • Your taxes. Donalds has set a goal of repealing homestead property taxes, and Avila wrote Florida tax law as Finance and Tax chairman.
  • Your insurance. He plans to keep tort reform, expand home hardening and speed storm rebuilding to push premiums down.
  • Your safety. Sheriff Grady Judd, 35 other Florida sheriffs and the Florida PBA back Donalds, and he voted to detain illegal immigrants charged with crimes.
  • Your kids. Donalds wrote the Hope Scholarship for bullied students, voted to protect girls' sports and has made strengthening schools a priority.
  • Your community. He has said Polk communities, not outsiders, should decide whether a data center gets built here.

Frequently asked questions

Is Byron Donalds a conservative? Yes. He sponsored the Hope Scholarship for bullied students, voted for the Laken Riley Act and the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, calls himself "a Second Amendment absolutist," and is endorsed by President Trump and Gov. DeSantis.

Who endorsed Byron Donalds for governor? President Donald J. Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, 36 Florida sheriffs including Polk Sheriff Grady Judd, the Florida Police Benevolent Association and the Florida Fraternal Order of Police. He is also endorsed by the Polk County Republican Executive Committee.

What has Byron Donalds done for Polk County? He has campaigned in Lakeland with Sheriff Judd, said Polk communities should decide for themselves whether to allow data centers, and plans property tax and insurance relief that would reach every Polk homeowner.

What is Byron Donalds' plan for property taxes? He supports this year's homestead exemption amendment as a first step and has set a goal of repealing homestead property taxes, with targeted relief for seniors and working families if full repeal does not add up.

Who is Byron Donalds' running mate? State Sen. Bryan Avila of Hialeah, former chairman of the Senate Finance and Tax Committee and a captain in the Florida Army National Guard.

When is the election for Florida governor? Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Early voting in Polk County runs October 19 through October 31.

Early voting runs from Monday, October 19 through Saturday, October 31, from 9 AM to 6 PM at any of Polk County's 10 early voting sites. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and polls are open from 7 AM to 7 PM. For locations and vote-by-mail details, see our voting information page and the Polk County GOP Voter Guide.

Vote Byron Donalds for Governor and Bryan Avila for Lieutenant Governor.

Want to help? Volunteer today at polk.gop/volunteer.

Sources

Paid political advertisement paid for by the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, 6039 Cypress Gardens Blvd; Box 108, Winter Haven, FL 33884. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Portrait of Sam Romain

About the author

Sam Romain

Chairman, Polk County Republican Executive Committee

Sam Romain is Chairman of the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, the county party organization representing registered Republicans across Polk County's precincts. He writes here on behalf of the committee on elections, county governance and the issues facing Polk County voters.

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