Republican Byron Donalds defeated Democrat David Jolly to become Florida's next governor, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The AP declared Donalds the winner at 9:09 p.m. EST. He will be the first Black governor in Florida history.

Statewide results (unofficial)

Unofficial totals from Florida Election Watch, the state Department of State's results site, showed the following as of 5:25 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, with all precincts reporting statewide. These totals are unofficial and remain subject to change pending canvassing and certification.

Candidate

Party

Votes

Pct.

Byron Donalds / Bryan Avila

REP

4,132,112

50.02%

David Jolly / Gwen Graham

DEM

4,024,180

48.71%

Scott Eckhard Jewett / Nicole Skelly

LPF

37,884

0.46%

Frank J. Russo / Rachel Rodriguez

NPA

23,199

0.28%

Charles Burkett / Ruben A. Coto

NPA

15,235

0.18%

Dean Ocean Abrams / Joe Van Vactor

NPA

12,532

0.15%

Jeffrey Peter "Dr. Jeff" Datto / Juan Santana

NPA

8,309

0.10%

Moliere "Moe" Dimanche / Benjiman Rojas

NPA

7,590

0.09%

Statewide turnout stood at 60.82%, with 8,334,790 ballots recorded, according to BocaNewsNow, which compiled the Florida Election Watch figures.

Donalds led by about 107,932 votes. That margin, roughly 1.25 percentage points, is above Florida's 0.5-percentage-point threshold for an automatic recount, WFTV reported.

Pasco County results

In Pasco County, all 122 precincts had reported as of midnight Nov. 4, according to the county's election results page. Donalds received 132,473 votes (55.23%) to Jolly's 103,288 (43.06%) out of 239,860 total votes cast in the governor's race. Voter turnout in Pasco was 59.28%, with 241,684 ballots cast out of 407,676 registered voters.

Victory and concession

During his victory speech at an election gathering in Broward County, Donalds said he received a concession call from Jolly, WUSF reported.

Donalds also said he received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump, who had endorsed his campaign.

In his concession speech at the Tampa Convention Center, Jolly pointed to the closeness of the result. "To come up with 48 or 49 percent in a state where our own party only has 29 percent of the voters means that we have a coalition," he said, according to WUSF.

Background

Donalds succeeds fellow Republican Ron DeSantis, who was term-limited after two consecutive terms. Florida has not elected a Democrat as governor since 1994. Donalds has served in the U.S. House since 2021, representing Southwest Florida's 19th Congressional District. His running mate is Bryan Avila, a former Florida state senator.

Jolly, who grew up in Dade City, served in the U.S. House from 2014 to 2017 as a Republican before leaving the party in September 2018. He registered as a Democrat in April 2025.

Property insurance dominated the campaign. Donalds said he wanted to preserve the 2022 and 2023 insurance reforms and bring costs down another 20% to 25%, according to the Sun Sentinel. Jolly proposed a state-backed catastrophe fund to carry hurricane and wind risk, claiming it could cut premiums 60% to 70%. That estimate had not been established through an independent actuarial analysis, according to a Lower Mortgage policy comparison.

Donalds will be sworn in as the state's 47th governor on Jan. 5, 2027, according to WUSF.