JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With 2026 now here, the primaries in Florida’s race for governor are just over seven months away, and one Republican candidate continues to hold a wide fundraising advantage in the battle to replace a term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.
This week, candidates and political committees reported their fundraising and spending for the final three months of 2025.
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Congressman Byron Donalds, who was the first major candidate to enter the race and earned an endorsement from President Donald Trump early in his campaign, has now raised $4,463,600, with $1.3 million of that coming in the fourth quarter of 2025. To date, nearly $2.5 million of that has been spent. According to campaign finance records, Donalds’ campaign spending included direct mail services and text messaging in the final months of last year, even though the first ballots were still months from being cast.
As campaigns are limited under state law as to how much money they can accept from a donor, major candidates also set up political committees, which can accept larger sums.
Donalds’ committee, Friends of Byron Donalds PAC, has raised $40,804,593.40 since it was formed in February 2025, with more than $12 million of that coming in the fourth quarter. Several large donors in that time had ties to gambling in Florida: the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which has a gaming compact with the state, gave $1 million. Two companies tied to daily fantasy sports gave $500,000 each: FanDuel Inc. and DK Crown Holdings Inc., which is tied to Draft Kings. Two other half-million dollar contributions came from The Geo Group, which operates prisons, detention centers and similar facilities, and NextEra Energy, the parent company of FPL.
Former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner is the other major Republican candidate who is reporting campaign fundraising. Renner, who is from Jacksonville and entered the race in September, has raised $218,265.30 for his campaign, with more than $137,000 of that coming in the fourth quarter. His political committee, Friends of Paul Renner, has brought in $5,103,190.95 since it launched in late August. More than half of that money came in within the first five weeks, before the third quarter deadline. Campaign finance records show the remaining $2.1 million was raised in the last three months of the year. More than $800,000 of that fourth-quarter fundraising came from the Republican Party of Florida, and roughly a million came from other political committees.
Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins just entered the race for governor this week. As a result, he has not yet reported any campaign fundraising. Collins, who served in the State Senate before he became lieutenant governor, has a political committee, Quiet Professionals FL. The committee was formed in 2022, as Collins first ran for the Senate. Throughout all of 2025, the committee raised $1,629,318, with more than half of that coming in the fourth quarter. The committee’s largest single donation in the last three months of 2025 came from CDR Enterprises, which gave $250,000. The Miami-based company and its subsidiaries provide a variety of services, including government contracting, including as a vendor for “Alligator Alcatraz.”
On the Democratic side of the race, the prominent candidates are dwarfed in their fundraising, compared to their Republican counterparts. David Jolly, who served in Congress as a Republican, before becoming an independent, and then a Democrat prior to launching his gubernatorial bid in June, has raised $1,785,977 through his campaign. Roughly a third of that – about $649,000 – came in the fourth quarter of 2025. Jolly’s political committee, Florida 2026, has brought in $1,237,797.48 throughout 2025. Since October, the committee raised nearly $412,000, with the largest donation in that time being $250,000 from Deborah Simon of Carmel, IN. In 2018, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported that Simon and her sister Cindy Simon Skjodt, the daughters of the late Simon Property Group co-founder Melvin Simon, had become significant campaign contributors to Democratic candidates nationwide.
The other well-known Democrat in the race, Orange County mayor Jerry Demings, entered the race on Oct. 31. His campaign has raised $225,145.30 since then. The political committee supporting his bid, Moving Florida Forward, has raised $140,000 from a handful of donors.
Candidates who have entered the race still have a key step before their names can actually appear on a ballot. They must qualify for the election by submitting paperwork and either paying a qualifying fee or submitting a required number of petition signatures. In order to run for governor, a candidate must complete that process during the week of June 8-12.
Republicans and Democrats in the state will make their first choices for governor in the party’s primaries on Aug. 18. The winners of those primaries, along with third-party or unaffiliated candidates who have qualified for the contest, will face off in the general election on Nov. 3.