TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Byron Donalds wants to be Florida’s next governor, but the Republican representative isn’t getting in the middle of a GOP argument roiling the state Capitol.
Donalds — who once served in the state House — touched down in Tallahassee on Thursday and spent time visiting with Republican legislators, receiving a warm reception when he appeared on the House floor.
His visit — which happened due to an abrupt change of schedule this week in the U.S. House — comes amid a struggle between Gov. Ron DeSantis and state House GOP leaders, along with a looming legislative stalemate over taxes and spending. State House Speaker Daniel Perez is championing a plan to slash the state sales tax by $5 billion, but DeSantis has criticized the idea and instead says legislators should return $5 billion to homeowners and work on permanent cuts to property taxes.
Donalds right now is also the front-runner to become Florida’s next governor, especially after President Donald Trump endorsed him earlier this year and no other significant Republicans have jumped into the race. First lady Casey DeSantis is considering her own run, but she appears unlikely to make a final decision until after Florida’s legislative session ends in early May.
Donalds said the “No. 1 thing” is to make sure that Floridians are getting “relief.” But he then added, “I don’t really want to get in the way of their negotiations because to be blunt, there’s one governor at a time. They’re going to take care of this and we move on from there.”
Donalds has previously said he supported trying to scale back or eliminate property taxes — which has become a top focus of DeSantis’ final two years in office.
The back-and-forth over taxes threatens to derail Florida’s legislative session; the state House and Senate so far are working on proposed budgets that are $4.4 billion apart. State Senate President Ben Albritton has urged legislators to move slowly instead of moving forward with a large tax cut proposal this year.
Albritton on Thursday tried to downplay the ongoing disagreement, saying “the plane always get landed.”
In recent days, DeSantis has repeatedly slammed state House Republicans, including during a Monday night Republican Party of Florida event at the governor’s mansion. The governor has accused House legislators of working in tandem with Democrats to oppose him. House Speaker Daniel Perez on Thursday called some of the governor’s recent criticisms “mind boggling” and said DeSantis has been “emotional,” although he also contended their relationship has been “cordial” in the past.
Donalds noted there had been disagreements between legislators and the governor when he was in the state House, citing a rift between with then-Gov. Rick Scott over economic development programs.
“I think the difference now its out in the media and social media, which is probably a new wrinkle,” Donalds said. “I think the most unfortunate thing is now it’s spilling out. They are going to finish their business here. I’m quite sure the governor and the House and the Senate are going to come to a resolution on lot of these issues.”
Donalds had his official kickoff rally for governor last week and has begun to round up endorsements from some members of Florida’s congressional delegation, as well as legislators. When asked about his visit Thursday, Donalds said it had “been a long time since I’ve been on the House floor” and he wanted to talk to colleagues.
Donalds’ visit also occurred two days after a pair of Florida special congressional elections, in which two Republicans — Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis — were elected by smaller margins than the GOP has seen in the past. He downplayed the significance of the elections and said Democrats were “motivated because they got beaten down in November.” Donalds added that Democrats still have lower favorability marks than Republicans.
He said it’s a “long way” until the 2026 midterms and Trump isn’t done with his agenda yet. “You have a recipe for stable and strong wealth prospects in our country going forward, that’ll play well before the elections,” Donalds said.
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