Trump-Endorsed Florida Gov. Candidate Byron Donalds Erases References to President from His Campaign Website
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) has recently wiped President Donald Trump off his campaign website, the Miami Herald reported on Tuesday.
Donalds steamrolled his primary opponents in the race to be Florida’s next governor with the help of Trump’s endorsement but has not been able to reach the kind of lead over his Democratic opponent, former GOP congressman David Jolly, that many Florida Republicans have in recent statewide races.
A poll by St. Pete Polls for Florida Politics that was conducted from Sept. 15 to 17 with 913 likely voters drawn at random from Florida’s registered voter files, using automated phone calls and text messages, had the Florida governor’s race in a statistical tie. Donalds was the choice for 44% of poll respondents and Jolly had 43%, with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the polling numbers for Trump and the GOP have been brutal as his second term has progressed, with Americans’ views on his handling of the economy and immigration — topics on which he had previously outpolled Democrats — taking a dive. The president’s war in Iran has been another issue dragging down his polling, specifically because of its impact on gas prices.
Numerous election prognosticators have repeatedly shifted multiple gubernatorial and congressional seats to the left as November has approached, including the Florida governor’s race. The most recent was Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, which, like the others, moved the race from Likely Republican to Lean Republican.
Donalds’ advisers can see these numbers too, and this week the president was exorcised from the campaign website, removing “numerous prominent references to his endorsement,” reported Claire Heddles for the Herald.
Heddles described how Donalds’ website “was previously dominated by references his Trump endorsement”:
A button to “Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds” was at the top of the homepage. “TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter. BYRON DONALDS” was the page’s main text. A yellow banner reading “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP!” marked the middle of the homepage and a prominent section quoting Trump’s 2025 endorsement said “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”
Now, however, these mentions are all gone, along with a photo of Donalds and his wife Erika Donalds with Trump, wrote Heddles, and Trump’s endorsement “is now only listed in a rolling banner of conservative endorsements from others including Elon Musk, Sen. Rick Scott, Speaker Mike Johnson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Charlie Kirk and others, with no outsize prominence.”
Donalds’ agenda had listed “Enact the Trump Agenda” first but now the president’s name “is nowhere to be found” and “affordability” is top ranked, Heddles added. The second issue changed as well, going from “Fight Illegal Immigration” to demoting that topic to a mention of wanting to “stop taxpayer handouts to illegal immigration” as part of the discussion under Donalds’ seventh-ranked topic, “Law and Order.”
Mediaite did find a small, fine-print mention of Trump still on Donalds’ “About” page.
Screenshot via Byron Donalds.com
Donalds’ online Trumpectomy comes on the heels of Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) making national headlines with a video ad in which she criticized Trump’s immigration crackdown as having “gone too far” and making Hispanic voters in her district “feel betrayed.”
Gates McGavick, a Donalds campaign spokesperson, defended the website changes when reached for comment by the Herald, saying, “Our campaign website reflects Byron’s focus on the issues that matter most to Floridians — affordability, insurance costs, and government transparency. He’s running to be the next Governor of Florida, is proud to have President Trump’s endorsement, and has real policy proposals to tackle those issues. Meanwhile, David Jolly is all sound bites, no depth, and no policy.”
The Jolly campaign took the website update as an admission the Donalds camp was worried.
Campaign Senior Advisor Mark Riddle told Mediaite, “Byron Donalds is panicked about David Jolly’s momentum and is trying to fool Florida voters with a desperate website change, but the reality is that Byron Donalds is nothing more than Trump’s yes man. He and Byron are tied at the hip for an agenda that has sent costs soaring. Florida voters are angry and ready for change, and David Jolly is ready to deliver.”
The Florida Democratic Party also crowed about how Donalds “purged his website of nearly every trace of Donald Trump as the president’s approval ratings sink to historic lows in Florida” and accused the Republican of “frantically racing to distance himself from Trump and his unaffordability agenda.”
“There is real trouble in paradise for Byron and Trump — MAGA’s favorite power couple is officially on the rocks,” said Florida Democratic Party Spokesperson Evan Ecklund in a statement provided to Mediaite. “The state of Florida voted for Donald Trump by 13 points two years ago. Now, Byron Donalds is pretending he’s never met the guy because he knows it’s his only shot at winning.”
“As Trump’s numbers crater in Florida, Byron is desperately trying to go no-contact,” Ecklund added. “But Floridians know the truth: Byron Donalds has been Trump’s right-hand man throughout his disastrous presidency, and a phony last-minute breakup won’t change that.”
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