EXCLUSIVE – A leading conservative organization that has long been an important player in the primary battles of the Republican party is to put his weight behind the candidate backed by President Donald Trump in the race to succeed the Republican governor limited by the term Ron Desantis of Florida.
The Growth Pac Club, a political arm of the Club Public Defense Organization for Growth, supported the representative Byron Donalds in the 2026 governor race of Florida. The development was shared first with Fox News.
Donalds, a former conservative state legislator who has represented the 19th district of the Florida Congress in the southwest part of the state, is currently the only important Republican in launching a campaign.
Trump's firm supporter and the Chamber's ally announced his candidacy during an appearance in the “Hannity” of Fox News at the end of last month, days after obtaining the president's support.
The Superior Conservative Group promises to work in close collaboration with the President after the previous clashes with Trump
Representative Byron Donalds during the Conservative Conference of Political Action (CPAC) in the National Port, Maryland, on February 21, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg through Getty Images)
Donalds was backed by the club when he won the seat for the first time in Congress in 2020. The club indicates that he spent $ 2.5 million to help Donalds emerge from a primary Republican contest of nine roads on his way to his victory in the general elections.
And Donalds enjoys a 100% rating for the group's life, which tracks how Congress members vote on economic issues. The club promotes a fiscally conservative agenda, including an approach to tax cuts and other economic problems.
“Representative Byron Donalds is a proven constitutional conservative that has constantly demonstrated his commitment to economic policies in favor of growth, limited government and limited government,” said club president For Growth Pac, David Mcintosh, to Fox News Digital in a statement. “Club For Growth Pac is proud to have supported representative Donalds from his first election to Congress in 2020, and we hope to choose it as the next Governor of Florida.”
The For Growth Pac Club is affiliated with Club For Growth Action, which describes itself as “the largest independent conservative pap in the United States.” The club notes that in the 2024 cycle, the candidates backed by the PAC won 73% of their careers.
Florida's first lady, Casey Desantis, is considering a 2026 governor career in the race to happen to her husband. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The support of Donalds occurs when Florida's first lady, Casey Desantis, has acknowledged that she is considering a 2026 governor career to succeed her husband in Tallahassee.
Trump's first couple and Florida had breakfast together a week and a half ago in the president's West Palm Beach golf course, and also played a golf round. The governor shared a photo of his wife and Trump of the golf excursion on social networks.
Ron and Casey Desantis are seen with Trump when the race of the governor of Florida is heated
A republican source In Florida He confirmed to Fox News that the governor and the first lady used his time face to face with Trump, in part, to appeal to the president not to participate in the governor's career beyond his initial support of Donalds.
The president, who moved his main residence to Florida in 2019, resorted to social networks last month to write that Donalds, who was a great substitute for Trump on the path of the 2024 campaign, “would be a truly large and powerful governor for Florida.”
Trump added that Donalds, “if he decides to run, he will have my full and total support. Run, Byron, runs!”
Byron Donalds speaks within the capital One Arena on the day of the inauguration in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Reuters/Mike Segar)
An internal survey conducted for the Donalds campaign indicated that the congressman beat Casey Desantis for a single digit in a hypothetical primary confrontation of the Republican Party. But the survey suggested that Donalds's leadership increased to more than 20 points when the respondents were informed that Trump supported him, whose influence on the Republican party is stronger than ever.
What Byron Donalds told Lara Trump of Fox News
The support of the Donalds Club is its first effort in this cycle to align with Trump in high profile primaries.
Former President Donald Trump shakes with the president of Club For Growth David Mcintosh, while Trump speaks in the annual retirement of Donors from the group, in The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2024. (Growth Club)
McIntosh and the club have had a relationship of ups and downs with Trump. They opposed him as he ran to the White House in 2016 before hugging him as an ally. In the 2022 cycle, Trump and the club joined in some primaries of the High Profile Republican Party, but faced with fuel nomination battles in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Trump, Growth Club, make peace before the 2024 elections
In addition, the club was excessively with Trump when the 2024 Republican presidential nomination career began. Trump repeatedly criticized McIntosh and the club, referring to them as “the club without growth”, and said they were “a set of political, globalist and losers.”
However, Trump and Mcintosh made the peace about a year ago, and Trump said in March 2024, while he was finishing the presidential nomination of the Republican Party, that they were “falling in love again” after the prolonged fall.
Click here to get the Fox News application
“I think you'll see Club for Growth PACS work closely with President Trump, his political team,” Mcintosh told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview last month. “We will definitely work closely with your policy team to obtain the tax bill. A large part of the legislation in which we both agree is really important to change things in the country.”
