WASHINGTON, D.C.— Republican gubernatorial candidate and Rep. Byron Donalds says he will finish out his congressional term in office and not resign to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.
“I’m going to finish out the term. We have other work that’s got to get done,” Rep. Donalds told The Floridian shortly after votes concluded Wednesday afternoon.
In September 2018, then gubernatorial candidate and Rep. Ron DeSantis announced that he was resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives to focus on campaigning for governor.
At the time it appeared as if DeSantis had to focus had no other choice but to focus on his run for governor in 2018, but Donalds doesn’t.
Rep. Donalds, who is sitting on mountain of campaign cash and is leading in the latest public opinion polls by what seems like an insurmountable percentage advantage, has already spoke to House Leadership about his intentions, noting that he will “be back for key votes.”
“I told leadership that I’ll be back for key votes, because obviously, we are going to be in the middle of a general election campaign. We are going to finish out,” Rep. Donalds added.The most recent public opinion polls conducted by Emerson University a the University of North Florida, have Donalds beating Democrat gubernatorial candidate David Jolly by 5 percentage points.
When asked about his thoughts on the ongoing James Fishback vs. Jay Collins eligibility drama taking place in a courtroom in Tallahassee, Donalds scoffed at the “sideshow,” saying that he wasn’t “paying attention” to the circus act and was solely “focused on voters.”
