Florida's Governor's Race Runs Its Final Lap on Monday: Donalds and Jolly Crisscross the State, a Day After the Tampa Rally
Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly are spending the last day of Florida's governor's race the way Florida races are spent - on the road. Donalds runs Tarpon Springs to Polk to Sarasota; Jolly runs Haines City to the Space Coast to Palm Beach and Broward. Tampa got its stop Sunday night.
Florida chooses a governor on Tuesday, and both men who want the job are finishing the race on the highway. Republican Byron Donalds started his 'Defending the Florida Dream' bus tour in Tarpon Springs on Monday morning, heads to Polk County at noon alongside Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Moody, and wraps the day in Sarasota. Democrat David Jolly, concluding his 'Believe in Better' tour with running mate Gwen Graham, opened Monday in Haines City, turns east to Brevard County, and closes with rallies in Palm Beach and Broward counties on Monday night.
Tampa's stop came a day early: on Sunday evening Donalds brought the bus tour to the Cuban Civic Club on Memorial Highway, where Gov. Ron DeSantis joined him - DeSantis is term-limited out of the office the two candidates are chasing. Donalds told FOX 13 that Florida voters are 'going to show up to polls in a major way on Election Day'; Jolly, at a Sunday event in Miami, framed his close around the economy, saying 'the economy should work for everybody.'
For voters, Monday is a travel day, not a voting one: anyone who did not vote early votes on Tuesday at their assigned precinct, with Florida polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time and a photo-and-signature ID required at check-in - the same rules this station's voter service files have carried all weekend, now down to their final 24 hours.
