It’s not exactly a secret that Donald Trump is an unpopular president who’s become an anchor around the necks of his political allies. The question, with six weeks remaining in the midterm elections cycle, is what Republicans are prepared to do about it.
The answer is quickly coming into focus. Many, for example, were only too pleased to skip Trump’s recent midterm convention. Others are letting their constituents know they disagree with some of the president’s worst ideas and denouncing key elements of the White House’s agenda.
But one of the most interesting trends is the number of GOP officials and candidates who have begun scrubbing their websites by removing references to Trump, in the apparent hope that voters won’t associate them with their party’s failing president. This list grew longer in an unexpected way this week. The Miami Herald reported on Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republicans’ gubernatorial nominee in Florida, and his newly overhauled website:
Donalds’ campaign website was previously dominated by references [to] his Trump endorsement. A button to “Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds” was at the top of the homepage. “TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter. BYRON DONALDS” was the page’s main text. A yellow banner reading “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP!” marked the middle of the homepage and a prominent section quoting Trump’s 2025 endorsement said “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”
All of those mentions were stripped away from his updated website. His campaign also removed a photo of Donalds and wife Erika Donalds posing with Trump.
Donalds has a page devoted to his issue positions, and up until recently, he listed “enact the Trump agenda” as one of his top priorities. As the Herald’s report added, “Now, affordability is the first issue on the page and Trump’s name is nowhere to be found.”
Asked for an explanation, a spokesperson for the congressman’s campaign said Donalds was “proud” to have the president’s endorsement, which might very well be true, but which also wasn’t a denial about the online overhaul.
Given the growing number of Republicans who are also scrubbing their websites, quietly removing references to and photos of the president, it might be tempting to think Donalds is just the latest in a series. But this one is qualitatively different than the others.
For one thing, it’s happening in Florida — a state Trump won by 13 points two years ago, during a cycle when the GOP dominated up and down the ballot. We would` expect to see Republicans take steps like these in blue states, but when Republicans scramble to distance themselves from Trump in his own adopted home state, which hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in more than three decades, it stands out.
For another, Donalds isn’t just another GOP candidate. The three-term congressman, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, has been a sycophantic, election-denying Trump loyalist and surrogate in recent years, directly tying his fortunes to his unapologetic embrace of the president.
As Paul Waldman, an MS NOW contributor, summarized, “It’s hard to think of many GOP politicians whose careers have been built more on their devotion to Trump. The fact that Donalds is backing away from him is incredible.”
Over the last several weeks, there have been increasingly unavoidable whispers among Florida Democrats that their gubernatorial nominee, former Rep. David Jolly, has a real chance of success. It’s been tempting to treat those claims with skepticism, given the state’s recent history, but Donalds’ move away from Trump suggests the winds are shifting in the Sunshine State, and they’re not at Republicans’ backs.
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