Byron Donalds wins governor's race

To talk about, let's start with a race for governor between Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly. We saw how close this was, but Donalds sneaks out the win. We've got FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer with the Jolly campaign at the Tampa Convention Center, while Evan Axelbank is with the Donalds campaign in Fort Lauderdale. So let's start with him there. Evan, the atmosphere, what's it like tonight? Hi. Well, they're thrilled. Florida has remained the ruby red state amidst what could be a very successful night for Democrats around the country. I don't think there's any question that Florida is going to remain the Republican center or the center of Republican politics, I should say. Byron Donalds is going to become the 47th governor of Florida. He came to Florida 30 years ago with so little. Think about his journey. State House in 2016, elected to the U.S. House in 2020, And now six years later, he's going to be elected governor. He said today, tonight, that we work tonight. Let me get it right. Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we work. And so the governor-elect clearly is going to begin with a number of things he's going to have to do to staff his administration and to get things rolling. But he did admit, he did say that tonight would be a night to savor this victory. He said that he made two specific phone calls. One was from Donald Trump and he said he wanted Donald Trump to know that Florida would remain a red state, and that is a significant statement given the national landscape that we are seeing. He also said that he took a phone call from David Jolly. David Jolly conceded that race, the race, a little while ago, and he said he congratulated David Jolly on running a very hard-fought race. He said the truth is that we have people who are struggling with bank accounts and insurance bills and that it's a constant concern for people, so clearly he is indicating that he is going to work very hard. The truth is, in our state, we have people who are struggling. We have people who are looking at their insurance bills. We have people who are looking at their bank accounts, not month in, month out, day in, day out, trying to figure out how they're gonna make ends meet. And my mission as Florida's next governor is to make sure that they can build a great life here in the great state of Florida. And so the question is now going to be, how does Florida look politically? This was a relatively good night for Democrats down ballot. They broke the Republican supermajority in the Senate, and so that means that vetoes now come into play. Democrats clearly have had a successful night in the U.S. House races and also in some state legislative races. They were able to flip several seats. So it's going to be interesting to see how Byron Donalds navigates this somewhat new political environment. Republicans are still in charge, but things do feel a bit different, just given the last time there was a governor's election in Florida, Ron DeSantis won by more than 20 points, and Byron Donalds, it appears, has only won by a point or two. So how does that change the mandate? That he is going to have, we're going to ask him, he's going to be having a gaggle coming up in the next few minutes here, a press conference, I should say. And so we're going to be asking him that. But indeed, he won, but it does take on a different tone than the governor's, the current governor's victory did in 2022. So for now, we'll send it back to you. But it will be interesting to see how he positions all of this, just given his victory is different than the one that the governor had several years ago. All right, yeah, Evan, sorry, I was waiting for you to toss it to me by name, but that's okay. We'll take it from here. A much different scene, as you would imagine, than what you're seeing over there in Fort Lauderdale here at the David Jolly watch party here. A lot more somber, of course. Now, David Jolly did come out a little bit earlier this evening to a huge round of applause. He thanked the people on his campaign for really the last, especially. Eighteen months of very hard work. He says he's grateful for all the time and effort that those folks put in there. He also says that something special, in his mind, has happened here in the state of Florida. He says he felt that it was a bit of a victory, so to speak, that he was able to swing that race. More than 14 points for governor, based off of what it was, if you compare it to the last time Governor DeSantis won. He ran and won just four years ago. He also called it a big night and a reckoning across the country, and he feels that the state of Florida is part of that. He feels that he built a coalition, a coalition in his mind that's based on unity and not political vitriol. And yes, he discussed also that phone call that he made to Governor-elect Byron Donalds. Listen to what he said about that phone call. I said, Governor-elect, I only ask that you consider one thing. The people that emerged in our coalition that voted for Gwen Graham and David Jolly tonight, please know that they are not radical, communists, socialists. I said to Byron, they're now your constituents. They're now your constituents. And what we ask of any governor is that they put the people of the entire state ahead of the people of a party or an ideology or an agenda. Yep, and David Jolly knew going into this that it was going to potentially be an uphill battle. He was going to need all the votes that he could possibly get from, of course, all of the Democrats he could get going to the polls, independents, non-party affiliated voters, and of course he was going to also need some Republicans to vote for him. And he fell just short of winning the race for governor. He congratulated Governor-elect Byron Donalds on a campaign well run. Back to you, Mark and Alan. All right, Erin Mesmer reporting for us, along with Evan Axelbank. Gentlemen, thank you much.