The Villages MAGA Club welcomed President Trump’s choice for the next governor of the Sunshine State in an event Friday evening in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
A packed house at Rohan Recreation Center cheered for Congressman Byron Donalds, who represents District 19 in Southwest Florida.
Donalds told the MAGA faithful that he would work hard to address the tough economic challenges facing Floridians.
“Property taxes are too high,” he said.
He explained that a substantial part of the increase in property taxes has been due to the increase in property values around the state.
In order to get a handle on the property tax problem he promised to take a DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) approach to state government as well as county and city governments.
“We have to be efficient in state and local government to reduce taxes,” he said.
Donalds acknowledged that both homeowners and auto insurance have been impacted by both the increase in property values and the increased population. He also said that removing or streamlining the permitting of new construction would help to reduce the housing problems.
Donalds also told the audience that he would work on the transportation infrastructure to handle Florida’s exploding population.
Winning over voters in The Villages would be a sure way toward paving a potential political path to the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee. That task was made much easier when Donalds picked up Trump’s endorsement earlier this year.
The Trump endorsement propelled Ron DeSantis to the head of the line in 2018. But the DeSantis-Trump alliance went down in flames when the Florida governor challenged Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary,
Term-limited out, DeSantis’ wife Casey has expressed a strong desire to succeed her husband, but has not officially entered the race. Her chances were bolstered this week when of a poll of registered Republicans in Florida conducted by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab found she was the top choice for governor next year. About 32 percent of the poll’s respondents said that if the election was held today, they would vote for her. Donalds was close behind in the poll, with 29 percent support.