Byron Donalds brushes off Hakeem Jeffries’ endorsement of David Jolly in Florida Governor’s race

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has endorsed the ticket of David Jolly and Gwen Graham in Florida’s race for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Florida Politics reported.

Byron Donalds, Jolly’s Republican rival, downplayed the move and said his focus remains on the campaign. According to Florida Politics, he argued that his mission is to protect Florida from the Democratic agenda and preserve what he sees as the state’s strengths.

Jeffries said he strongly supports Jolly and Graham and views the election as highly consequential. Jolly thanked him for the endorsement and said the race is drawing national attention, according to Florida Politics.

The outlet also noted that Jeffries has become involved in other Florida contests this cycle as Democrats try to compete on a congressional map shaped by Gov. Ron DeSantis to give Republicans more seats and help safeguard a narrow House majority considered important to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Florida Politics also recalled earlier friction between Jeffries and Donalds. Jeffries had said Donalds stated at a 2024 Trump campaign event that Black people were better off during Jim Crow. Donalds rejected that characterization and said in a social media video that his remarks were about family structure and later public policy.

Before Donalds’ latest comments, his campaign had already responded through Communications Director Gates McGavick. As cited by Florida Politics, the campaign tied Jeffries’ endorsement of Jolly to the Democratic leader’s vote against condemning socialism in Congress and said it expects to defeat Jolly in November.

Sources

• Florida Politics

About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.