TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Congressman Byron Donalds is the first to throw his hat in the ring for Florida’s 2026 Governor’s race.

In an interview with Fox News, he said, “I’m here to announce my candidacy to be the next governor of the great state of Florida.”

The announcement comes less than a week after President Trump endorsed Donalds on social media. Donalds is one of the president’s biggest supporters in Congress and questioned the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election.

Before spending the last 4 years in Congress, the Naples resident spent four years in the state legislature. Governor Ron DeSantis questioned whether the experience qualifies him as a good leader.

DeSantis recently said, “I want these congressmen focused on enacting his agenda, they haven’t done very much yet.”

During Donalds’ interview with Fox News, he praised the governor’s work in the state.

“I think now is the time to take the mantle and lead our state into the future. We have a great governor; Ron DeSantis has done a tremendous job for our state but now the job is to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country and that’s going to be the mission at hand,” Donalds said.

DeSantis has recently floated his wife Casey’s name as a fitting candidate for Florida governor. “I won by the biggest margin that any Republicans ever won a governor’s race, she would do better than me, there’s no question about that,” he said, “anything we’ve accomplished, she’d be able to take that to the next level.”

There’s speculation surrounding several other possible candidates. Names on the republican side include Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and former congressman Matt Gaetz.

For Democrats, Tampa house member and minority leader Fentrice Driskell and Senator Jason Pizzo are potential possibilities.

A recent poll from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab shows Casey DeSantis has the highest favorability rating among the possible candidates. Most people in the survey say they didn’t know enough about the other candidates.