Florida Republicans are about to see a lot more of Byron Donalds.
The Congressman from Naples said Friday that he will be on the campaign trail more in the coming weeks since Congress is now on August recess.
“I’m going to be all over the state of Florida every single day campaigning and working hard,” he promised in Clearwater Friday.
Donalds, who has raised at least $103 million to date, said his operation will continue a full-spectrum approach to campaigning.
“We’ve now knocked 320,000 doors across the state of Florida. So it’s not just TV ads. We are at doors. We are making phone calls. We are engaging every part of Florida and we’re going to continue to do that. Whether it’s policy announcements, rallies, door knocking, phone banking, we’re not going to stop,” he vowed.
Even as he works to close strong in the August 18 Primary, Donalds acknowledges the likely General Election contest against Democrat David Jolly will be tougher, and reiterated his desire to debate him.
“The issues about the future of Florida are real to everybody in our state. Democrats, independents, Republicans: everybody wants to know what’s going to come next for Florida and what’s going to happen next with Florida’s Governor and the leadership from that person. What’s the vision? What are the policies? Because you can play all the politics you want, but at the end of the day, it’s about making sure that the policies … allow for people to continue to live free lives. That’s what matters,” Donalds said.
“Considering that obviously that’s going to be a much tighter race than the way the Republican primary has turned out to be, we need to have that contrast. The people need to hear that contrast very directly. I’m prepared to do it. Anytime, any place.”
Donalds won’t have as much time in the state once Congress gets back to work. He intends to complete his term in the House, which has a very narrow Republican majority. This means his campaign schedule will be restricted to time off from official duties, giving Jolly a potential advantage in reaching voters this fall.
