Congressman Byron Donalds is widely considered a front-runner in the Republican race for Florida governor. His confidence was on display recently as he spoke to residents in Bay County during a rally at Harrison's kitchen and bar, where he called himself "your next governor."
Supporters sprawled on an outside deck and spilled into the grass to hear Donalds' address. He spoke on issues ranging from traffic infrastructure to property taxes. A proposal, pushed heavily by Governor Ron DeSantis, to drastically cut property taxes will go before voters in the fall. Donalds says he's a fan of cutting the tax.
"I want to see us actually cut property taxes and help people keep more money in their pockets," Donalds says.
Resident Timothy Morrison, who attended Donalds' event, says those pocketbook issues are what are most important to him.
"The property tax, that's the main thing," Morrison says. "Once they get that resolved, that should help a lot. That's my main concern."
Resident Robert Sunsby says he's glad to see candidates making their way to the Panhandle.
"To know that there's someone running, who would come out here and listen to us, and speak to us, that means so much to all of us just knowing that they see us too," Sunsby says.
Several Republican gubernatorial candidates, including Jay Collins, James Fishback and Paul Renner, have also made stops throughout North Florida, as has Democratic gubernatorial front-runner David Jolly.
Logan Hart, another local resident, happened to be at Harrison's for the food and decided to stay to hear from Donalds. Hart says he's happy with the way Florida has been running, and he'd like to see future leadership take a similar path.
"There's so many beautiful things about Florida, so I really just think they should keep going in that direction," Hart says. "I feel like it's a good thing and people are extremely happy in Florida right now, and that's why everybody's moving to the South."
During his address, Donalds agreed. He says Florida can be an example to other states.
"You can leave your citizens alone, have a great state of growing economy, quality of life and just a place people just want to be a part of," Donalds says. "You can do it. We can prove it in Florida."
Donalds' rally came just days after news broke about a lawsuit the candidate is facing—though the news didn't cast much of a shadow on the event. Most attendees who spoke with WFSU say they hadn't heard of it.
The lawsuit accuses Donalds of civil assault for an incident at a grocery store in 2022 involving charter school operator Kelly Mason, who was then suing Donalds' wife, Erika.
Anthony Sabatini is a lawyer representing Mason in the current case. He says a video shows Donalds allegeldy threatening and intimidating his client in the grocery store as Donalds tells Mason to drop the previous lawsuit.
"It's just awful behavior and nasty," Sabatini says. "I think it really surprised a lot of people when they saw it, since it's so out of character with the public persona that Donalds has tried to create through media appearances."
Donalds did not address the suit during his rally, but in a statement issued to the Daily Mail, his campaign calls the suit "baseless" and "politically motivated."
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