U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who won the GOP primary for Florida governor, announced his running mate in Miami on Tuesday: state Sen. Bryan Avila.
Avila represents District 39 in the Florida Senate, which covers parts of western and northwestern Miami-Dade, including Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens and Miami Lakes.
Avila’s selection as Donalds’ running mate follows months of involvement in his campaign. Since September 2025, Avila has served as a co-chair of Veterans for Byron, a coalition formed to rally veteran support for Donalds’ campaign for governor.
In May 2026, Avila also joined Donalds in Hialeah for the launch of Latinos for Byron, a campaign effort aimed at Hispanic voters.
Donalds made the announcement from the Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College and the future site of President Donald Trump’s presidential Library.
After getting the GOP nomination for governor, Donalds is attempting to become Florida’s first Black governor as he is set to face off against former Republican David Jolly, who won the Democratic primary for governor, in the general election in November.
Who is Byron Donalds?
Donalds announced in February that he was entering the 2026 race to succeed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is ineligible to seek another term after eight years in office.
Donalds entered the race with Trump’s endorsement. Donalds has been a frequent Trump surrogate and was on the short list to be his vice presidential running mate during the 2024 presidential campaign.
His campaign website said he is “committed to implementing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again.”
Donalds worked in finance as a credit analyst and portfolio manager before he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016.
He has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021.
If he wins the general election in November, Donalds would be Florida’s first Black governor. There have been three elected Black governors in U.S. history until now. Yet the 47-year-old Donalds is more likely to tout his conservative credentials than the possibility of joining that select group.
He promises to push tax cuts, overhaul Florida’s insurance regulations to lower consumer costs and seek greater price transparency from health care providers.
“The people of Florida want to make sure that the Florida dream is alive and well into the future,” he said recently. “Affordability is a problem for all Floridians. It doesn’t matter what your politics are. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is.”
Trump has had an inconsistent record on picks for governor in primaries this year, and a strong showing by Donalds would leave him, and Republicans in general, in a more commanding position for November. Though DeSantis coasted to reelection in 2022, he squeaked into office in 2018 by little more of 32,000 ballots out of 8.1 million cast.
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