Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to walk back criticisms of Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, but the Naples Congressman doesn’t care either way, noting that the state has “term limits” and DeSantis’ time is coming to a close.
“I’m not concerned about it,” Donalds said Monday on HotCakes and Hot Takes.
DeSantis said earlier this year that Donalds “hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the Left over these last years,” a quote that gets traction still since the Governor has refused to endorse a potential successor.
Donalds said Monday that DeSantis was still aggrieved that he endorsed Donald Trump over the Governor in the 2024 presidential race.
“It is what it is. I’m not going to get mad about it. I mean, look, he’s done a great job. He’s done a great job for the state. No doubt about that. Nobody could take that away from him, you know, but we have term limits,” Donalds said. “We’re going to have a new Governor in six months and a week.”
The Donalds-DeSantis disconnect is a relatively recent phenomenon. Back in April, Donalds told another interviewer DeSantis had urged him to run for the chairmanship of the Republican Party of Florida.
Ironically, the dynamic between DeSantis and his predecessor, Rick Scott, was also strained. Scott left during DeSantis’ swearing-in to get to D.C. to be sworn into the U.S. Senate, amid other tensions that linger on to this day. There is scant communication between the two men or their offices, even when the state is in crisis.
Despite DeSantis’ diminishment of Donalds’ record, the third-term Congressman and former state legislator is so confident in his chances to get the nomination that he wouldn’t name an opponent he saw as a threat.
“Look, the other guys running, they’re in single digits in polling. Okay. We’re around 50. It is what it is,” Donalds said. “Our polling has us at 50% or a little bit higher. It’s a winner-take-all state. It’s not even 50 plus one, it’s the most votes. So we feel very good. But with two and a half months to go, we take nothing for granted. We’re working hard.”
