POLITICO
MIAMI — Ron DeSantis has more than two years left as Florida governor. Yet Donald Trump is itching to find his successor.
During a high-dollar fundraiser at the Pierre in Manhattan on Tuesday night, Trump pointedly asked Rep. Byron Donalds if he planned on running for governor. A smiling Donalds told POLITICO he answered Trump: “That’s what I hear.” Trump, apparently toying with the hopeful pol, then noted that he had a lot of friends who were likely to enter the race.
Trump’s exchange with Donalds — which was in front of other people — quickly came out. It was a stark reminder that, even amid a public peace treaty with ex-primary rival DeSantis, Trump is eager to show he has every intention of dominating the state they both call home well past the 2024 election. It also amped up suspense about when, how and whether Trump would endorse and spilled the already active jockeying for 2026 into public view.
“The invisible primary for the GOP nomination for Florida governor for 2026 is already underway,” said Justin Sayfie, a partner at Ballard Partners who was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s policy adviser. “It’s something that doesn’t get talked about in the open, but it’s classic Donald Trump to bring out into the open what everyone is saying behind closed doors.”
Sayfie surmised that Trump was also sending an unspoken message during the fundraiser: That he knew Republicans would be seeking his endorsement and that he had a big decision to make that would be central in determining the eventual Republican nominee.
Trump’s hyper-early comments suggest he’s eager to reprise his role as kingmaker. It’s one he relishes all over the U.S. — but probably nowhere more famously than in Florida, where he helped DeSantis, once a little-known member of Congress, rocket to the GOP nomination then the governor’s mansion in 2018. It was a decision Trump would later grow to regret.
This time, Donalds is just one of Trump’s friends interested in the job. Two others in Congress who have been loyal to Trump include Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, both of whom joined Trump in court for his criminal trial in New York City on Thursday. Donalds, who’s also reportedly one of many in consideration to be Trump’s running mate this year, witnessed the trial Tuesday.
The quick succession of Floridians to Manhattan shows that they, too, are acutely aware that Trump is keeping score of who showed up to support him in 2024 — and that it could all pay dividends in 2026.
Back in 2018, Trump waited to endorse DeSantis until closer to the August primary, when then-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam was already the favorite among donors and in public polling. Trump hasn’t said when he’ll decide who to support for 2026, but he already put one marker down early for that election cycle by endorsing state Sen. Joe Gruters, a close ally, to be Florida’s chief financial officer.
