U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds says he is not concerned about the General Election after Special Elections last week favored Democrats.
In Senate District 14, Democrat Brian Nathan upset Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow. In House District 87, Democrat Emily Gregory defeated Jon Maples, a candidate President Donald Trump backed.
But Donalds, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, says “Special Elections are very different animals,” adding that he and his team have been “on the ground, campaigning, talking to the people of Florida,” which leads them to one conclusion.
“We fully anticipate that in the Midterm Elections, everybody’s going to know once and for all that Florida is a red state,” the Naples Republican said on NewsNation.
He said Maples lost by a few hundred votes and that the candidate was “coming back” and is “going to run in November,” framing HD 87 as a swing district.
“I would remind people that that same state House district, before 2022, when Ron DeSantis won the state by 19 points, that was a Democrat seat, actually. So that seat has flipped back and forth over time, several times over the last two decades or so. So we’re confident we’re going to get those seats back,” he added, encompassing the lost Senate seat as well.
Donalds reiterated that he’s not “overly concerned” about Democrats and that his priority is the “future” of the state, “making sure that the Florida dream is available for everybody in our state, whether they are a Democrat, an independent or a Republican.”
