A new statewide survey of Florida Republicans shows U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, holding a commanding early advantage in the 2026 gubernatorial primary. The poll places Donalds at 35 percent, well ahead of Casey DeSantis at 27 percent, with other potential contenders such as Wilton Simpson and Paul Renner in single digits. In a head-to-head matchup, Donalds widens the gap to 49 percent against DeSantis’s 21 percent, underscoring his front-runner status among GOP voters nearly a year before the filing deadline. The poll lands as tensions escalate between Trump’s orbit and Governor Ron DeSantis, whose wife Casey is exploring a run to succeed him. This week the governor bypassed Trump-backed State Senator Joe Gruters for Florida’s open chief financial officer post, instead appointing his longtime ally Blaise Ingoglia. Gruters has responded by recruiting a team of Trump political advisers for a 2026 CFO campaign, setting up a second intra-party clash that could test the former president’s influence in the nation’s third-largest state.