Paul Renner says David Jolly would beat Byron Donalds in General Election

A shock poll that shows Democrat David Jolly could flip the Governor’s mansion from red to blue isn’t so shocking to one of the Republicans running to replace Ron DeSantis.

Former House Speaker Paul Renner says Jolly, a “moderate Democrat,” could defeat U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds in November.

Renner says Donalds, a Naples Republican, has problems that can be exploited by Jolly, the former Republican Congressman who became a Democrat during Donald Trump’s first presidency.

“I think a vote for Byron Donalds is a vote for David Jolly as your next Governor,” Renner said during a campaign event in Crawfordville.

Renner was asked by a reporter to respond to a survey from South Florida-based EDGE Communications and MDW Communications that shows if Donalds and Jolly were the respective nominees, the race would be too close to call.

Renner believes that Donalds’ alleged character flaws would give Jolly a window.

“He is that person who is self-promoted. He’s gotten very wealthy in office, and had a lot of fun, and not delivered results for we the people. And he’s going to come in with a lot of baggage … missed votes,  just not a great, stellar record,” Renner said.

“He’s been all about himself, against a guy who’s going to come in as a moderate Democrat, who, to my knowledge, doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet. And I think he’s your next Governor.”

Renner, who represented the Palm Coast area in the House, went on to say that if Republicans have a “compromised nominee, someone who is not going to be able to go into the General Election without a lot of weight and a lot of baggage, they’re going to lose. They could lose.”

“If the independents are breaking so hard against us, we could lose this election,” he added.

We have reached out to the Donalds campaign for comment and will update if we receive a response.