Florida voters showed up — even as some poll locations were moved due to severe flooding — to elect Byron Donalds as the state’s 47th governor, succeeding Gov. Ron Desantis.
Donalds makes history as the Sunshine State's first Black governor.
In addition to electing the state’s first new governor in seven years, voters passed a property tax amendment that increases homestead exemptions significantly over the next two years.
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Donalds won with 50.1% of the vote, a 1.4-percentage-point lead over his opponent, Democrat David Jolly.
“As your next governor, we are going to make sure that Florida remains the very best state in all of America,” Donalds said at his watch party at Broward County’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. “We're going to be focused on the issues that I've been talking about on this campaign trail for a long time. We are going to drive down costs for the people of this state.”
Both candidates and their campaigns leaned heavily on their approaches to affordability, a leading issue for Florida, which is experiencing an outflow of middle-class residents citing affordability concerns.
The trend is especially evident in South Florida, where an affordable housing crisis is brewing amid an influx of wealthy individuals.
Miami-Dade County lost more than 10,000 residents between 2024 and 2025, placing it among the three counties with the nation’s largest population declines, according to the Census Bureau.
Donalds, who has spent the last 10 years in Florida politics and serves as the U.S. representative for Florida’s 19th Congressional District, wants to lower homebuilding costs to boost housing inventory.
He has called for smaller units from developers, removing zoning restraints, specifically in Miami-Dade County, and promoted the removal of local zoning restraints to boost housing inventory.
The new governor-elect, a Florida State University graduate, also supports the state seeking technology to modernize permitting systems.
In addition to a focus on affordability, Donalds pushed to expand transparency on healthcare costs and government spending, worked to move NASA’s headquarters and the Space Force Academy to Florida, and focused on early literacy for children.
Jolly, a lawyer and former Republican congressman who turned Democrat in 2025, launched his run in June 2025, campaigning on affordability largely through property insurance, calling for state-backed funding to cover hurricane and wind risk with aims to cut premiums by up to 70%.
He also supported using state money to invest in workforce and affordable housing and expanding down payment assistance.
“The movement we started doesn't go away tomorrow,” Jolly said onstage at the Tampa Convention Center, where he held his watch party. “It exists to hold our leaders accountable.”
Donalds’ win keeps Florida’s 28-year red streak alive, even after high expectations for Jolly’s performance, and falls in line with the real estate industry’s preferences.
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Some of South Florida’s largest commercial real estate investors funneled millions into Donalds’ campaign in recent months. It had amassed more than $150M by Tuesday, according to the Florida Department of State’s campaign finance database.
That is a massive lead against the roughly $14M Jolly collected in donations by Election Day.
Among the largest donors to Donalds were Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who donated $15M in two separate payments in July and August, and Related Ross head Stephen Ross, who donated $1M, according to the database.
Other donors included Related Group, JDS Development’s Michael Stern, Oak Row Equities and Property Markets Group.
Jolly’s campaign landed donations from Compass agent Michelle Howland and Deborah Simon, daughter of Simon Property Group co-founder Melvin Simon.
Florida’s new governor will be sworn into office in January.
On top of heavy real estate backing, Donalds earned an almost immediate endorsement from President Donald Trump when he announced he was running for governor in February 2025 and later landed DeSantis’ backing.
Beyond electing a new governor, voters approved a property tax amendment targeting housing costs, clearing the 60% hurdle to pass.
The amendment will raise Florida’s $50K homestead exemption to $150K next year and $250K in 2028 without exempting tax levies for school district properties.
Despite touting greater affordability for homeowners, localities have warned that the amendment’s passage could mean multimillion-dollar cuts to their budgets.
In response to the measure, the city of Miami prepared a 25% budget cut to local hospitals, police, fire, parks, public schools and water management, which Related Group's Jorge Peréz cautioned could stunt the city’s ability to attract and retain residents.
Landlords may carry the weight if municipalities opt to raise taxes on commercial properties to fund the gap. Rental properties that aren’t homesteaded, because they aren’t owner-occupied, could see a rise in property taxes, which could be passed on to renters.
“Anytime some commercial businesses get their costs raised, they tend to pass it on to the consumer,” Kaufman Rossin tax principal and leader Ken Rios said. “So talking about affordability for the rental market, if the commercial owners are paying more, they may increase rents and it may impact the consumer.”
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