Byron Donalds Answers Press Questions Following Important Florida Governor Win - 11/03/26

I know you guys had questions about the primaries, what was going to happen in the panhandle. And tonight, I think you saw the work that my team and I put in in the panhandle. The people in the panhandle came through once again in our state. And I'm very grateful to them, very grateful to the people all through Florida. We had a great turnout in Miami-Dade County. I think most people thought Miami-Dade County was going to be a very rough spot for Republicans this cycle. And I also want to give full credit to my team. We knocked over 2.2 million doors all through the state of Florida. But I think to your core question, it's starting to sink in. That's good. But it really speaks to the people of our state. I think for everybody was thinking about well, how is this going to go? And I think the people of Florida proved once again, that they just want to make sure that they're led and they have the right policies that are going to keep their state safe, keep their state free. And as governor, that's going to be my mission going forward. All in all, it's a lot of you guys. Your message to the people that voted for Jolly saying, what's your message to the voters that voted for Jolly? We're going to be working hard for them as well. For people who voted for David Jolly, we want to make sure that we address their concerns. Without a doubt, people are concerned about the cost of living in our state. And so for the people that voted for David Jolly, I want them to understand very clearly that we're not here to represent 51% of Florida. I'm going to govern effectively for all of Florida. And we're gonna be in every community in this state. The town hall meetings that everybody's kind of grown accustomed to, those are going to continue. We are going to be around the state of Florida making sure we engage all people. Yeah, exactly. It was never in doubt. It was all part of the plan. Honestly, we were looking at the numbers even through early voting and we could see that Democrat voters in the state in particular were voting at levels. I think my team was saying we haven't seen since the Reagan years. We also saw a lot of independent voters really show up and vote in large numbers. But we were really confident in our game plan. Our game plan was talking to all voters. We spent a ton of time talking to independent voters, soft Democrats in our state. And I think it was all of it that came together. Yeah, Claire. Congratulations. Good to see you. Because Democrats turned out in such big numbers, it was nearly half and half. Does that tell you anything about the kind of leader you want to be, the kind of governor you want to be to bring everybody together? I think if you look at how we went through this campaign, I'm probably the first Republican that went and did a town hall at FAMU. Because I think it's important that you talk to all the voters of the state. We were going to churches in North Miami. We were having meetings with pastors in Broward County. One of the first meetings in Jacksonville was with black pastors in Jacksonville. And so I just want to tell the people of Florida that the engagement we did through the campaign does not stop as the state's next governor. We're gonna continue that engagement. Governor, congratulations on your victory tonight. Beyond insurance and property taxes, what is the single biggest affordability weight in that Floridians can expect in your first 100 days as governor You said beyond insurance and taxes? Beyond insurance. Oh, we have to address health care. Health care costs are out of control. It's not just here in Florida, it's all over the country. New York Times just came out a couple days ago with an article that said the Obamacare premiums are going to soar 14% again next year. We have to really examine how we're delivering health care, what the payment system looks like, how you drive efficiency to stabilize costs in health care. Because when you travel this state, and you talk to people about affordability, it's a catch-all. People are talking about health insurance, housing insurance, property taxes, food, gas. It runs the gambit. With the things that we can control, we can try to make sure we have a more efficient health care system in Florida. Lowering costs there as well. Yes, sir. Governor, it appears that the Democrats have broken the super majority in the state Senate. How much does that change your strategy and change the types of bills that you're going to be able to move forward to get through? No, we'll be able to work with everybody. If you look at the state Senate in particular, there's a lot of people over there on both sides of the aisle that I served with when I was in the Florida House 10 years ago. So I know those members will sit down and have very candid conversations about what we want to do to address the core issues that are important to the people of Florida. Yes. Do you plan to expand Medicare? Medicare is a federal program. Excuse me. No, we're not going to expand Medicaid. Medicaid expansion will expand the state's budget in ways that we'll have to start borrowing money again in order to close those gaps. And the people of Florida, in my opinion, talking to them, they don't want to see the state expand the debt in our state. They like the fact that we have the lowest amount of debt per capita in the country. We need to keep that. What we need to do in health care is drive more efficiencies. What would be your first act as governor? Hold on, you got one. First of all, congratulations. Wanted to ask you, with how close this race was, obviously it wasn't a 20-point margin like we saw the past two years. What is the main takeaway Republican leaders need to come away with after tonight to prevent this from, you know, being a nail-biter two years, four years from now? I think for every Republican, it's about engaging in your communities on a granular level. You can't take anything for granted. And to be honest with you, that's how we approached this campaign. I know how this campaign started 21 months ago, coming in with President Trump's endorsement. All you guys were writing it. Everybody was saying, oh, it's a foregone conclusion. He's going to win. I told my team in the back, and I told them a year ago, the toughest thing for us was going to be going wire to wire. It's never happened in Florida politics in the modern era. It did tonight. But it wasn't because we just sat back and let the campaign come, is because we were intentional about engaging communities everywhere. And all that hard work, all the doors, all the calls, it all paid off tonight, even in a tight race. I think moving forward, it's about being that intentional about how we address these issues going forward. And frankly, earning the trust and the support of the voters continuously into the future. Do you think there was a message Looks like Democrats are going to take control of the House, take control of perhaps the Senate. And your victory margin was much narrower than in 2022. Is there any message that you're already starting to consider that the voters gave you tonight and are giving Republicans across the country and in Florida? Well, I have not had a chance to look around the country, so I'm getting that from you. Honestly, there were a lot of people in that hall who were just excited to be here tonight. I think going forward, I think we just have to be make sure that we're just focused on, you know, the basic issues that matter to all people in their lives. I think as long as you're focused on that, that will carry the day when it comes to elections. And look, the one thing we know, especially coming off the 24 cycle, you guys know how intimately involved I was. I was in that one. And now how deeply involved I am in 26. You know, I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but every cycle is its own entity. It starts with working hard on the ground every day. Yes, sir. Governor-elect, congratulations on the win tonight. I'm Alec Lace with RSBN. I know that the fatherless crisis is something that's important with you. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the fatherhood initiative a couple of years ago. What kind of plans do you have to make sure we can strengthen, get more dads back in the home and strengthen our nuclear families? I think it's critical. If you're going to talk about a lot of these affordability issues, it always starts with family formation. We want to look at how the governor and his team have been implementing that program. We wanna make sure it has all the resources that it needs. We know that the data's clear on this. The number one way you keep kids out of poverty is you have two parents and a home. The number one way you help a child be have a solid foundation in order to excel and achieve in life because life isn't easy we all know this is you have a you have strong leadership and that starts with strong fathers in homes that's not to diminish the power of a mother's love. I'm the product of a single parent household my mom was out there tonight and like I said on stage I wouldn't be the person I am without her. But the leadership from fathers and homes is critical in order to stabilize families. If you have strong families, you have strong communities, you have strong communities, you have a strong state.