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AIPROPX ReportNewsweek · 2h ago
Who is Byron Donalds' Wife, Erika? What We Know About Family
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Representative Byron Donalds secured the Republican nomination in Florida ’s governor's race on Tuesday and is set to face off against Democratic former Representative David Jolly in the midterm elections in November .
If Donalds wins in November, his wife, Erika Donalds, will become the state's first lady.
Donalds defeated several other candidates in Tuesday's primary to win the GOP nomination in the governor's race . He received 47.8 percent of the vote with 99 percent reporting, according to the Associated Press. Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins received 25.2 percent of the vote, while investor James Fishback received 10.5 percent. Several other candidates received single-digit support.
Donalds has represented Florida’s 19th District—which includes Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Naples—since 2021 and has built a reputation as being a close ally to President Donald Trump, who endorsed his campaign . Prior to his election to Congress, Donalds also served in the Florida House of Representatives.
He graduated from Florida State University and worked in the banking and finance industries of Southwest Florida, according to his official biography. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
Erika Donalds has been involved in conservative political activism. She serves as the America First Policy Institute’s chair of education opportunity and has been an advocate for school choice. The couple married on March 15, 2003.
She graduated from Florida State University (FSU) in 2002 and Florida Atlantic University in 2006 with a Master of Accountancy, according to her official website.
In 2017, she founded the Optima Foundation, which her website describes as a “nonprofit created to expand access to classical education through public charter schools across Florida.” It is now titled the Education Freedom Foundation.
She previously worked as chief financial officer/chief compliance officer and partner at the investment management firm Dalton, Greiner, Hartman, Maher & Co., LLC, according to FSU.
“I’m so proud of you," she wrote to her husband this week in an Instagram post ahead of the primary. "All these years later and you’re exactly the same humble, caring and strong principled leader you’ve always been. It is forever my honor to be by your side.”
In a video posted to X, she said they met while in college. After graduating, he moved to Naples, where she was working as an accountant, she said.
“In a span of 18 months, we graduated from college, moved to Naples, got married and had our first son,” she said. “We were starting from the bottom. We understand what some of these young people are going through because we were there ourselves.”
She discussed her views on education policy in July at the American Legislative Exchange Council. She said she became involved in activism after pulling her son out of a school that was not the right fit for him. Finding the right school “turned his life around,” she said.
“When I had to pull my son out, I discovered the concept of school choice because I didn’t have it," she said. "I finally found a school, and at the time we had to put it on our credit card. But I said I would rather go in debt than have my son hate learning every day.”
Donalds has three sons—Damon, Darin and Mason—according to his official House of Representatives bio.
Most recent surveys show Donalds with a lead, though a new Democratic internal poll showed Jolly with a single-point advantage.
The new poll from Hart Research Associates, sponsored by the Democratic Governors Association, found Jolly’s support at 46 percent and Donalds’ at 45 percent. It surveyed 600 likely voters August 10-13, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
A poll from the James Madison Institute found Donalds up 7 points among likely voters, 45 percent to 38 percent. It surveyed 1,026 likely voters July 20-26. A University of North Florida poll showed him up 5 points, 46 percent to 41 percent. It surveyed 848 likely voters July 8-17.
Prediction markets favor Donalds. He had an 83 percent chance of winning on both Kalshi and Polymarket on Wednesday afternoon.
Prediction markets allow traders to buy and sell contracts tied to political outcomes and current events, aggregating real-money wagers into probability estimates. Prices fluctuate as traders react to polling, fundraising, candidate developments and broader political trends. They measure trader sentiment in the moment but do not always accurately predict the future.
The Cook Political Report views the race as Solid Republican, while Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it Likely Republican.
J. Miles Coleman of Sabato’s Crystal Ball wrote in a July 23 update that the race was shifting away from Safe Republican status after “some recent polling has shown the general election tighter than what our current Safe Republican rating would suggest.”
“We would not call Florida truly competitive," he wrote. "But an open seat and relatively close polling are enough to move this off Safe Republican and into Likely Republican.”
Florida, once a premier battleground, has become increasingly difficult for Democrats over the past decade. Trump carried it by 13 points in 2024, up from a 3-point victory in 2020 and a 1-point win in 2016. President Barack Obama won the state in 2008 and 2012.
Republicans have also expanded their voter registration advantage , while Democrats have struggled to remain competitive in statewide races. As of July 31, there were 5,607,836 registered Republicans and 4,066,503 registered Democrats in Florida, with an additional 3,327,656 "no party affiliation" voters, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
Democrats outnumbered Republicans as recently as 2020.
Several factors contributed to the realignment. Republicans have made inroads among Latino voters ,...
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