How Ron DeSantis turned Florida’s governor race into a Republican family feud
How Ron DeSantis turned Florida’s Republican succession into a family feud
How Ron DeSantis turned Florida s governor – On paper, the Republican primary to select Florida’s next governor appears to be little more than a formality. The clear front-runner, Rep. Byron Donalds, carries into the final weeks of the race President Donald Trump’s endorsement, the backing of most of the state GOP’s establishment, a commanding fundraising advantage and little opposition on the airwaves.
Instead, the contest has become a bitter succession fight driven largely by one powerful holdout: Gov. Ron DeSantis. Still immensely popular among Florida Republicans but barred by term limits from seeking reelection, DeSantis has refused to hand the baton to Donalds and has spent months publicly and privately arguing the Naples congressman is unfit to replace him.
A Governor’s Reluctance to Let Go
He has even shared his reservations directly with Trump, according to a person close to DeSantis with knowledge of a recent conversation between the two. Yet DeSantis has failed to throw his support behind an alternative, instead undercutting other Republicans trying to take down Donalds. He has declined to elevate Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, despite appointing him to the post just a year ago, and he has dismissed the candidacy of former state House Speaker Paul Renner, once a close ally who helped muscle the governor’s agenda through the legislature before his presidential campaign.
The resulting vacuum has transformed what could have been a straightforward Republican succession into one of the nastiest GOP primary fights of the midterm season.
The resulting vacuum has transformed what could have been a straightforward Republican succession into one of the nastiest GOP primary fights of the midterm season — marked by an ugly public feud between DeSantis’ top staff and his own lieutenant governor, a legal fight to disqualify a candidate and fears of the governor retaliating against those who side with Trump’s chosen candidate.
It has also opened space for James Fishback, a 31-year-old, race-baiting insurgent who has gained national attention despite a troubling legal history and limited financial support. Fishback has called Donalds, who is Black, a “slave to his donors” and a “DEI Republican” who would “turn Florida into a Section 8 ghetto,” and has attracted praise from influential right-wing commentators like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes. DeSantis’ role in the divisive fight has frustrated his remaining allies in the party and left him increasingly isolated as he drifts toward an uncertain political future.
Though the governor has made little secret of his continued presidential ambitions, some Republican friends worry he is eroding the goodwill built during two terms in office, when he rose from relative obscurity to become one of the GOP’s biggest stars before losing the party’s 2024 presidential nomination to Trump, and leaving himself vulnerable as he tries to regroup with an eye toward 2028. “Everybody has tried to talk sense into him, including the president,” the person said. “Ron is leaving without a lot of friends. There’s going to be a big effort to take the shine off of him and he won’t have a platform to defend himself.”
DeSantis and Donalds were once close. Donalds was a reliable ally for the governor in the state legislature before winning a congressional seat in 2020. DeSantis also worked closely with Donalds’ wife, Erika, a school choice advocate and charter school operator, to expand Florida’s private school voucher program. On election night in 2022, Donalds introduced DeSantis before the governor delivered his landslide victory speech.
Their relationship unraveled the following spring. As DeSantis prepared to launch a White House bid, Donalds opted to endorse Trump over his home state governor. It helped trigger a wave of endorsements for Trump from Florida Republicans before DeSantis had formally entered the race. According to the person close to DeSantis, Donalds spent days trying to share his decision with the governor before making his endorsement, but DeSantis refused to take or return his calls. A Republican operative close to Donalds confirmed this account.
DeSantis’ office didn’t respond to questions about the episode. When Donalds began laying the groundwork for a gubernatorial campaign two years later with Trump’s backing, DeSantis quickly sought to undermine it. “The reality is we’ve achieved victories in Florida. We need to start achieving those victories up there (in Washington),” he said in February 2025. “I think people look at it and say you’ve got a guy like Byron, he just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the left over these last years. He’s just not been a part of it. He’s been in other states campaigning doing that and that’s fine, but OK, then deliver results up there.”
Those attacks have been echoed by Renner and Collins as they’ve tried to chip away at Donalds’ support and position themselves as DeSantis’ heir. They have also regularly highlighted Donalds’ legal troubles as a young man, when he was arrested on separate occasions for marijuana possession.
