U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign has reported raising $40 million since launching earlier this year.

In a memo outlining accomplishments in 2025, Rapid Loop Consulting President Ryan Smith argued the Naples Republican will enter the election year as “the most dominant gubernatorial candidate in Florida history.”

“Our campaign will serve as the tip of the spear in keeping Florida red in 2026 up and down the ballot,” Smith wrote. “Not only will our resources be effectively used to deliver a decisive victory for Byron; but they will also be invested in the voter registration and turnout efforts required to send the Democrat Party in Florida into extinction.”

Outside of money, Donalds’ campaign boasts endorsements from President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, House Speaker Mike Johnson and outsized political supporters such as billionaire Elon Musk, golf legend Phil Mickelson and, months before his political assassination, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

The memo also notes the support of Florida Sheriffs, now 27 of them, and from 17 members of Florida’s congressional delegation and 63 total members of the U.S. House.

“Byron enjoys unmatched grassroots support from Republicans across Florida. In 2025, the campaign visited 41 counties and held 75 political events, punctuated by hour-long photo lines and homemade ‘Donalds for Governor’ swag,” Smith wrote.

A range of political polls have also shown Donalds with a major lead in the Republican Primary for Governor. Smith points to a recent poll from The American Promise that shows Donald leading with 38% to Lt. Gov. Jay Collins’ 9%, with that lead shifting to 50% to 7% if respondents were informed of Trump’s endorsement of the Congressman. Donalds also faces former House Speaker Paul Renner and Azoria CEO James Fishback in a GOP Primary.

Smith suggested that lead will only grow after Donalds’ campaign goes on air.

“These polling numbers come after allies of one potential opponent spent over $6 million statewide to boost his name ID. Sadly for that mystery donor — or donors — that multimillion investment was lit on fire,” Smith said.

“The state of the race remains unchanged, and now, the sugar high will wear off. Byron Donalds maintains a commanding lead without spending a dime on TV ads. Our lead will only increase once we do.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis says college football is a “total mess” in light of athletes shopping around for better deals from programs, and that his efforts to reform it have been paused by Donald Trump’s White House.

Speaking in Sebring, DeSantis said he spoke to a bipartisan group of Governors “about a year ago” and said Governors on both sides of the aisle wanted to “come up with a framework.”

“Honestly, you really only need 10, 12 states, right? Because, you know, if you get Florida, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, now you need Indiana, California,” DeSantis said, explaining that once states with “big-time programs” act, that would be enough to set up a workable framework.

But DeSantis said comments by Trump that the federal government planned to step in halted the state-led effort.

“So we’re like, all right, we’ll let the feds do it,” DeSantis added.

DeSantis said as early as last year that he wanted Governors to join him in some reform effort.

“I know they’re working on something, but I think it’s hit rock bottom just in terms of all the static that’s in the system,” DeSantis said.

He noted that “general managers” in college football make it “like a professional thing,” adding that many of the athletes recruited “haven’t even really produced that well.”

He also suggested that athletes are currently holding up programs for more money when they are performing.

“Now it’s like they have more rights than pro athletes,” he said.

“A quarterback will, you know, throw for four touchdowns. The third game of the season (he will) go, ‘Hey, coach, any more NIL money? Oh, I’m going to hit the transfer portal.’ And then you just go hop around schools. So you can play for four or five schools the way it goes now. And you can even play a few games, do very well, sit out and still get eligibility for the next year.”

Players’ mobility hurts programs, he argued.

“It’s hard to even know whether your teams are going to be good year after year because you don’t know who you’re going to lose. And then to do the transfer portal, right as we’re getting into the playoff, how does that make sense where these teams are going to have to make the decision?”

While the Governor stopped short of saying he regrets signing the name, image and likeness legislation that helped start the current cycle of professionalization of college sports, he does want a “happy medium” between athletes not being compensated and the current system.

But with time running out, reforms may not be realized before DeSantis leaves Tallahassee.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet have approved more than $2 million in immigration enforcement money for local agencies seeking AI language translators, pepper spray, GPS trackers, handcuffs, bonuses, and more.

The $2.4 million greenlit to 10 law enforcement agencies means Florida has now approved roughly $21 million of the original $250 million diverted by the Legislature in February to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

DeSantis and the Cabinet members, who make up the newly created State Board of Immigration Enforcement, approved the money unanimously.

The Board is part of a broader Florida crackdown on undocumented immigration. In February, the GOP-dominated Legislature approved a sweeping measure demanding all counties partner with ICE, creating state-level penalties for entering Florida without proper documentation, and removing in-state tuition for undocumented college students.

The Florida law came right as President Donald Trump took office, ordering mass deportations and setting aside mass sums of money for states to set up migrant detention centers. Florida was the first state to do so with “Alligator Alcatraz,” a sprawling, controversial facility in the heart of the Everglades.

Where is the money going?

The largest lump of the $2.4 million will go to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, which requested the most money ($738,451) for the widest-ranging variety of immigration-related activity.

After the Florida Highway Patrol, the South Florida county is responsible for the most encounters with suspected undocumented immigrants and the most noncitizens arrested on federal immigration charges, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s immigration dashboard.

Martin County’s breakdown includes $2,546 for 30 handcuffs and 30 leg irons; $13,153 for tactical goggles, ballistic helmets and bulletproof vests; $1,639 for 10 canisters of high-volume pepper spray; $271,103 for a rapid DNA testing machine; $136,736 for license plate readers; $185,029 for tasers; and $859 for Bluetooth rechargeable shooting ear protectors.

The next-highest grant is for Volusia County Corrections, totaling $505,789. The asks include $68,400 for detention beds, $22,400 to train 40 officers under the 287(g) program, $43,000 in bonuses for correctional officers, $183,760 for six detection screening systems to check migrants for “contraband,” $182,500 for a full-body security scanning system to check migrants for contraband, fevers and health problems, $1,400 for 72 uniforms, and $4,100 for 50 mattresses.

GPS trackers, AI translators, and biometric scans

The remaining requests came from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Madison Police Department, the Fruitland Park Police Department, the City of Port Richey Police Department, the town of Havana, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the town of Welaka Police Department, and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.

The majority of the money is for license plate readers, overtime or bonuses for law enforcement or correctional officers. Fruitland Park received $22,300 for GPS trackers. According to the submitted request, the Department plans to deploy the trackers against “a suspect vehicle … allowing officers to safely monitor vehicles suspected of transporting unauthorized aliens.”

Havana received $93,687 for body-worn cameras, $90,088 for tasers, and $6,201 for nine universal AI language translators. These translators will “facilitate effective communication with non-English (speaking) individuals during stops and immigration focused activities.”

Putnam County received $17,378 for six laptops; $5,793 for handcuffs, leg cuffs, and chains; $69,384 for 21 Rapid ID devices, and $2,557 for one “Rapid ID two finger biometric device accompanied by a DNA barcode.”

These would be used to determine “accurate biometric identification of detainees.”

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Reporting by Livia Caputo. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].