Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds made a stop at Nación de Fe church in Kissimmee Friday night, where he met with supporters and shared his journey to the race for governor.
Endorsed by President Trump, Donalds, who is currently serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, is in a deep Republican pool of declared August primary candidates to run to replace termed-out Gov. Ron DeSantis that includes Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, investment firm CEO James Fishback and former Speaker of the Florida House Paul Renner.
Donalds spoke to the modest crowd gathered at Nación de Fe—which included other leaders, such as Florida State Representative Paula Stark and former Senator of Puerto Rico Nayda Venegas Brown—about his vision for Florida’s future.
He addressed priorities like sustaining economic growth by supporting small business formation; reviving manufacturing in northern counties; advancing space industry activities at Kennedy Space Center; addressing high insurance costs through regulatory updates that he says have not been significantly revised in over two decades; and continuing to attract businesses and residents from other states.
As part of his plan to attract people to Florida, Donalds recently unveiled his “Florida Means Business” policy package, which is designed to “make Florida the fastest, most permitting-transparent state in America.” In a county like Osceola, where explosive growth has been complicated by lacking infrastructure, more growth might not be welcomed by voters.
But Donalds says that fast tracking permitting doesn’t only apply to housing.
“It’s also fast tracking permitting on infrastructure,” he said. “Right now, to design roads in our state—some of the major thoroughfares—it’s three years of design work and a year and a half of construction. By the time we do it all, you’re five years down the line and you already need to expand it.”
Donalds said permitting needs to be more efficient, top to bottom, in order to help local governments have a plan that they can manage at scale. “Because you’re increasing your tax base and you know what’s coming online, it makes it easier to finance those road construction improvements, which is really now a qualityof- life issue here in Osceola County, and frankly, in many places in Florida.
“I agree that the transportation issues are major. A lot of that is because we grew very fast the last six years and it was not accounted for. We have to be aggressive in how we’re going to improve our infrastructure to balance and manage that growth with other people still choosing to come.”
The deadline to register to vote or change party affiliation for the Aug. 18, 2026 primary is July 20, 2026. For more information, visit https://dos. fl.gov/elections/for-voters/ voter-registration/.
