Republicans continue to wrestle with red-to-blue flips in the Legislature, and that includes the man who is currently the front-runner to succeed outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Byron Donalds, a Congressman from Naples who is running for Governor, says his party needs to embrace the fundamentals of campaigning going forward and avoid the distractions of so-called “podcast wars” that see Republicans and conservatives attacking each other rather than working to win elections.
“We just have to redouble our efforts. You have to get to the polls,” Donalds said in an interview circulated by his campaign.
Donalds warned against distractions posed by “the podcast wars … between the podcasters and people who are black-pilling,” saying “none of that is relevant” and that candidates must emphasize the ground game and get-out-the-vote efforts.
“You can’t just assume that text messages and TV ads are going to get the job done,” Donalds said.
The comments follow stunning wins by Democrats in two Special Elections this week. In Senate District 14, Democrat Brian Nathan upset Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow, and in House District 87, Democrat Emily Gregory defeated Jon Maples, a candidate backed by President Donald Trump.
DeSantis has taken criticism on the Right for not engaging in either of the Special Elections won by Democrats.
While DeSantis has not commented on the losses directly, he suggested this week that Republicans who don’t align with him could face challenges.
“You’ve got some of these people in (the Republican Party) who … want to stop what we’ve done, and they want to kind of go back to the way things used to be or go in a different direction. And I think those candidates are going to have much more trouble being able to win primaries and general elections,” DeSantis predicted.
