President Donald Trump was scheduled to campaign for Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on Friday night in Daytona Beach. The stop comes before Trump heads to weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa. Florida voters go to the polls Tuesday in the midterm general election.
A New York Times and Siena University poll released Thursday shows Donalds leading Democrat David Jolly by 4 points. Jolly, a former Republican who represented Pinellas County in Congress from 2014 to 2017, leads among independent voters and won 6% of Republicans, according to the poll. A separate YouGov/Univision poll gave Donalds an 8-point lead.
Donalds also holds a large fundraising edge. Open Secrets analysis of campaign finance records shows he has $33.3 million more cash on hand than Jolly.
For South Florida voters, the race will determine who leads the state for the next four years, and the outcome will shape policy on issues such as property taxes and insurance.