Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) on Thursday downplayed his move to distance himself from President Donald Trump during his gubernatorial campaign in Florida, arguing the press tried to push a “hot take” on his relationship with the White House.
Last month, Donalds, who is running in what could be an unexpectedly tight race against Democrat David Jolly, stripped eight mentions of Trump from his campaign website’s homepage. The Republican candidate also removed a “Enact the Trump Agenda” priority and transferred his photo with Trump to a less conspicuous corner of his website, according to an analysis by the Miami Herald. The move that swiftly attracted attention due to the dynamics of the close race, in which both candidates will need to pull more centrist voters to win the November election.
Trump quickly dismissed the changes, calling the revelations a “fake story,” and saying Donalds “is going to be a fantastic Governor.” When pressed on the changes this week, Donalds defended the move to strike references to Trump, saying reporting on the matter was “a misconception in the media.” The gubernatorial candidate said the decision to change the website followed a month and a half of planning, and was aimed at “focusing on the people of Florida,” during an appearance on Politico’s The Conversation podcast.
“When I looked at the final run of the website, we looked through it all. I looked through every tab, saw where the president was still on the website before it went live. I think what you had are some news outlets in Florida who were trying to come out with a hot take,” Donalds said. “He was always there.”
“We really were saying internally as a campaign, we wanna make sure that when voters, especially undecided voters, when they go to look to get information on our campaign, we wanna make sure it’s focused on them,” he added.
During the interview, Donalds reiterated differences from Trump on some policy issues, such as data centers and artificial intelligence, while backing the president on others, including the Iran war. The governor emphasized his focus on maintaining what he described as an independent mindset in the gubernatorial race, saying, “I’m allowed to have my own viewpoint about how we’re gonna govern Florida.”
“I’m a supporter of the president. He’s a supporter of mine,” Donalds said. “But I think the misconception is, people think that the president just wants ‘yes’ men. That’s actually not true … I think there’s times where, yes, the president and I, we don’t agree on policy, and that’s fine.”
Polling paints a mixed picture of the Florida race, where Jolly is fighting to flip the seat blue and become the first Democrat to lead the state since 1999. Some surveys show the race tied or with Jolly with a slight lead, while several recent surveys indicate Donalds is ahead.
While some polls indicate a tight race, Jolly faces an uphill battle. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) secured reelection in 2022 by a commanding 20-point margin.
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As Democrats eye a possible opportunity to pick up a seat in a Republican stronghold, Donalds aired two new ads earlier this week ahead of the election, touting his endorsements from Trump and DeSantis.
The Republican candidate has maintained a firm lead over Jolly in terms of fundraising. By late September, Donalds had raised $134.4 million and spent $91.7 million in his campaign account and political committee combined, while Jolly raised $16.7 million and spent $11.2 million.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
