- President Trump packed Alico Arena at Florida Gulf Coast University past capacity on October 23, with hundreds of supporters turned away, delivering a full closing-argument rally for Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds with 11 days to November 3 Election Day.
- Trump spotlighted Donalds against Democrat David Jolly in the Florida governor's race, attacking Jolly's gun-control record and casting Donalds as the rightful heir to the state's Republican-led decade of governance — a race that would make Donalds Florida's first Black governor.
- The polling landscape is split: an exclusive NBC Miami survey gives Donalds a 7-point lead, but the University of North Florida's October 21 poll — the most recent available — shows the margin down to just 2 points.