Representative Byron Donalds holds a slim lead in Florida's race for governor. New polls show he is ahead of David Jolly by four percentage points. With seven percent of voters still undecided, the contest remains tight. These results highlight the challenges Republicans face across Florida, South Carolina, and Minnesota today.
New polls in Florida, South Carolina and Minnesota illuminate the head winds that Republicans are facing.
Less than a week before Election Day, Republicans hold a slim lead in the Florida governor's race, according to new polls from The New York Times and Siena University.
Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican who would be Florida's first Black governor if elected, is ahead of his Democratic opponent, David Jolly, by only four percentage points, 48 percent to 44 percent.
The poll in Florida, along with polls in South Carolina and Minnesota, illuminate the head winds that Republicans are facing nationally. The current Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, won his re-election campaign four years ago by more than 19 percentage points. But Mr. Jolly, who previously represented the state in Congress as a Republican, has ground to make up.
Seven percent of Florida voters remain undecided, a higher percentage than that of any of the other governor and Senate races polled across the three states.
In South Carolina, Alan Wilson, the Republican candidate for governor, is ahead by seven percentage points. And in Minnesota, the Democrat running for governor, Senator Amy Klobuchar, is comfortably positioned with an 18-point advantage over Lisa Demuth, the Republican.
Mr. Donalds has hustled across Florida, working to win over Black voters who often support Democrats. He is also handily out-raising Mr. Jolly. But Mr. Jolly, a critic of President Trump who left the Republican Party in 2018 and registered as a Democrat in early 2025, is making it a race.