Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly advanced from Florida's primaries, setting the November contest for governor. Florida voters selected the Republican and Democratic nominees who will compete to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis. AP projected Byron Donalds as the Republican nominee and David Jolly as the Democratic nominee for Florida governor.
The winner in November will replace Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is barred by term limits from seeking another consecutive term. Donalds entered the race as a nationally known Republican congressman aligned with President Trump. The primary settles nomination, not governing authority. Both candidates now move from mobilizing party voters to persuading a broader electorate under different issue and turnout conditions.
Jolly is a former Republican congressman who later left the party and is running as a Democrat. The primary was part of a multi-state election night that also included contests in Alaska, California and Wyoming. General-election campaign spending, polling and coalition support had not stabilized at the edition cutoff. The most useful next evidence will be certified county results and voter-file analysis. Those records can show where each nominee built support without treating early narratives about momentum as measured fact.
Florida has shifted toward Republicans in recent statewide elections while retaining large and diverse metropolitan electorates. Open-seat races can differ from incumbent elections because both nominees must define themselves statewide.
AP race calls rely on vote returns and statistical analysis; they do not replace final state certification. The current evidentiary limit is that county canvassing and formal certification were still ahead, and primary results do not predict the November outcome.
The next factual record will come from certified vote totals and turnout patterns and general-election polling, debates and independent spending. Until those records appear, the account remains bounded by the cited reporting, measurements and explicitly attributed statements.