Rep. Byron Donalds defeated Democrat David Jolly in Florida's gubernatorial race on Tuesday, Nov. 3, becoming the state's first Black governor and the nation's first Black Republican governor.
With 99% of precincts reporting, Donalds captured 50.1% of the vote to Jolly's 48.7% after overcoming a slight deficit in early voting because Republicans outvoted Democrats by 600,000 on Election Day. Donalds promised during his campaign to continue Gov. Ron DeSantis' policies on education, deregulation and immigration.
Donalds' victory came despite President Donald Trump's low approval ratings and a Democratic blue tsunami in other states, such as Georgia, Texas and Ohio.
Here's what to know about Donalds' wife, Erika Donalds, and the governor-elect's family.
Erika Donalds is education activist, charter school founder and policy leader
Erika Donalds is an activist who advocates for school choice and has founded six classical charter schools in Florida and also launched OptimaEd, an education tech company providing virtual reality curricula and virtual school options. She also serves as the Chair of Education at the conservative America First Policy Institute.
According to her biography page on the AFPI website, she spent 20 years in the financial services industry, including serving as chief financial officer, chief compliance officer and managing partner at a multi-billion dollar investment management firm.
According to reporting from the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times, Erika Donalds' companies have received $30 million in state education funds since 2022, with another $16 million promised in the next two school years. According to the news outlets, ethics experts and political opponents say Erika Donalds' private business ventures will loom large over her husband's administration.
Teachers' unions are also raising red flags over Erika Donalds' promotion of artificial intelligence in virtual classrooms, arguing it directly benefits her private ed-tech ventures, according to reporting from the Miami Herald.
The couple has three sons
According to Erika Donalds' biography page on the AFPI website, she and Byron Donalds have three sons – Damon, Darin and Mason.
They have lived in Naples, Florida, since 2002.
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about Byron Donalds' wife, family
