Byron Donalds Projected to Win Florida Governor Race

Republican Byron Donalds is projected to win the Florida governor race and become the state's first Black governor.

Donalds defeats Democrat David Jolly in one of the country's most-watched midterm contests.

Donalds was endorsed by Donald Trump and appeared twice with the president at rallies in the closing days of the campaign. He will succeed Ron DeSantis, a former presidential candidate who is termed out of office in January.

Donalds highlighted the endorsement he received from the outgoing governor during the campaign, billing his bid as “a continuation of the DeSantis-era of success.”

Jolly campaigned with former president Bill Clinton, who headlined a fundraiser that brought in $3 million for his campaign, and was endorsed by former president Barack Obama.

The incoming governor faces a divided state where rapid economic growth and population increases have raised living costs and prompted many residents to move away.

Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature holds a supermajority that backed nearly all of DeSantis' priorities in recent years.

House and Senate leaders have indicated they intend to act with greater independence going forward.

The result was narrow, even as Trump carried the state in each of his three presidential runs and Republicans control the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature.