Florida elected its first black governor Tuesday night. Decision Desk HQ projected that Republican Rep. Byron Donalds (FL-19) defeated Democrat David Jolly. He will succeed Ron DeSantis, who is finishing his second term. Jolly kept it close. The Republican led by less than two percentage points when the Associated Press called the race.
On leftist MS NOW, Rachel Maddow announced the Florida result and remarked that Jolly had kept it close. A few minutes later, Symone Sanders Townsend, press secretary for socialist Bernie Sanders' infamous 2016 run for president, came back to a detail the panel had passed over. Florida had just elected its first black governor. She called it a historic win, then came the “though.”
Simone Sanders on Byron Donalds winning Florida: "All kinfolk ain't skinfolk" According to them black voters are only allowed to think for themselves as long as they think exactly like Democrats And apparently Florida is racist https://t.co/MpopjTQNvE
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) November 4, 2026
“It is a historic win. It is the first time Florida has elected a Black governor. I will say, though, you know, as they say in my community, all kinfolk ain’t skinfolk. And what I say and what I mean by that is Byron Donalds is making history, but he is going to continue the political direction that Ron DeSantis is going to continue in Florida.”
Disgusting.
Her reason was that he had been on "The Breakfast Club" that morning and “sounded similar to Ron DeSantis.”
Florida voters had two terms to decide what they thought of DeSantis. They just elected a Republican to succeed him. I’m glad they did. Sanders Townsend could have taken any answer from that interview and told viewers what she thought was wrong with it. Instead, she brought up kinship. That’s where a disagreement over Florida politics turned into a racial smear. A black Republican can agree with DeSantis without owing a cable news host an explanation for where he belongs.
Then came the call in Georgia. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, defeated Republican Rick Jackson and became the first black woman elected governor in the United States. Sanders Townsend said Bottoms had made history by running on issues that resonated with voters. By the end of it, she wanted a T-shirt.
Good for Bottoms. Give her credit for running a campaign that persuaded Georgians to elect her. Give Florida voters the same credit for listening to the candidates in their race and making up their own minds. Some of them probably heard the governor-elect sound like DeSantis and thought that was a pretty good reason to vote for him.
In his election-night statement, Florida’s governor-elect put the cost of living and public safety on his list.
“We are going to make life in Florida more affordable. We are going to keep our streets safe.”
The people who put him in office will get to ask him what he’s done about both. That comes with the job, and Republicans who backed him ought to be among the first to ask. For now, Florida has elected its first black governor, and conservatives have every reason to be proud that he’s one of ours.
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