Could U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a current candidate for Governor, follow the lead of the current and previous Florida Governors who ran for the White House?
During an appearance on “HotCakes & Hot Takes,” Donalds said he hadn’t given the matter any thought, before offering insight into the process that might precede a run.
“You can’t time politics. You can’t plan it. Everybody thinks they’ve got a plan. Lies.” the Naples Republican said.
“Politics is a timing business. If the timing works out for you, you do it. If the timing is not in your favor, you should have enough awareness and situational awareness and self-awareness, and hopefully you’ve got people around you, who will say, ‘No, you should not do this. It’s not your time or it’s not going to work out.’ So I don’t think about that stuff. I think about what I’m doing today,” he added.
At least for now, Donalds does not plan to follow the leads of Reubin Askew, Jeb Bush, Ron DeSantis, or Bob Graham. The timing ultimately worked out for none of them.
For what it’s worth, there is some investor action on Donalds ’28 in the prediction markets. Polymarket clocks him as having a 0.8% chance of winning the GOP nomination in two years, tying him with names like TV host and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Turning Point USA’s Erika Kirk, Eric Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Though Donalds says he isn’t running, he believes 2028’s GOP race will be a free-for-all to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump.
“I think everybody’s running. I think everybody’s going to throw their hat and take their shot and see what happens,” he said.
