“Florida is still red”; Byron Donalds elected 1st Black governor of Florida, succeeding Ron DeSantis.

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time, please welcome Governor-elect Byron Donald. Before I say anything, I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My 30 years in Florida has been a very interesting 30 years, but more than anything, it's been a story of redemption. It's been a story of people that I met along the way, back in college, through young adulthood, coaching kids, serving in church, being in the Tea Party movement, finding my way to politics, and now I am your next governor. I want to thank my wife, because Erica's been the rock of our family. She's allowed me to do this. Everybody give it up for the next First Lady of the great state of Florida. I want to thank my sons, because my sons have had to sacrifice probably more than anybody else. You see, for everybody listening, nothing happens just because it happens. It's a lot of sacrifice along the way, and sometimes the people who sacrifice the most are the people who love you the most. And so I just want to thank my sons for letting me be on this journey. To my family, to my mom, my mom is here tonight. To my mother, you laid the foundation in a man that I have become. So I just want to say, Mom, thank you. I just had a phone call. I actually just had two phone calls. The first phone call was from David Jolly. No, no, no, hold on, hold on. We talked, and I had to congratulate David on running a hard-fought race. He did. And so in this campaign, if you know anything from me, we work hard every single day, and we work hard, and we do it with integrity. And we win with class and dignity. And I want to congratulate David on a hard-fought race. Because 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 going to 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. The second call that I received tonight was from the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Mr. President, I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red. But Mr. President, I also want to tell you thank you for your support and thank you for being in my corner.