Evan Richland said he'd never heard of Byron Donalds, as he sipped coffee on Thursday at an open-air cafe in Sarasota where the Republican nominee for governor would soon visit.
"If I were to vote — I'll put it like that — I would probably be very strict about voting Republican now because the Democratic Party is a catastrophe," said Richland.
Richland, like several other people interviewed by WUSF among the crowd of about 100 at Yoder's Restaurant, in a neighborhood of Sarasota with a large Amish and Mennonite population, didn't seem to know many details about Donalds' policies, but indicated they would likely vote to keep Republicans in power, despite acknowledging some discontent.
"Are we worried about the economy? Yeah, but I think we're all going in the right direction," said Allan Weinstein as he waited for Donalds' tour bus to arrive.
"Are we worried about safe borders? Absolutely, we need safe borders. The crime by illegal immigrants is out of control, and we need to have our country back," he said.
Paula Steinert said traffic is a big problem in Sarasota, due to lots of development and not enough roads to handle the cars. She said she hasn't paid much attention to the Democratic nominee for governor, David Jolly.
As to Donalds, "I think he's a great speaker," Steinert said. "Hopefully he'll follow in the footprints of DeSantis because he's done a tremendous amount for the state."
When Donalds emerged from the tour bus, he urged people to vote on Nov. 3 "because that's the way we win."
Florida has about 5.7 million Republican voters, and 4.1 million registered Democrats.
"I can talk about the Democrats, but why? We all know they're crazy," Donalds said.
"What's more important is about the why we have to win, and the why we have to win is because we're better than these other states. So many of you have escaped those other states. We are the state that has embraced common sense and conservative principles, which is why we're the best state," he added.
"And as your next governor, we're going to keep Florida free. We're going to keep Florida red, and we're going to take Florida to a whole new level."
After speaking, he posed for selfies with supporters but did not go into the restaurant to talk with diners or take questions from reporters. Instead, he went into a back room at Yoders to sit for a podcast interview. His staff said the topic was about school choice, and the interviewer was from New College of Florida.
The Republican nominee's wife, Erika Donalds, owns two for-profit companies that have earned millions from contracts with charter schools, a situation that the Tampa Bay Times reported could raise ethics issues if he is elected governor.
Donalds has also reportedly tried to distance himself from President Donald Trump in recent weeks by removing many references to the president from his campaign website.
However, Donalds will appear at a Trump rally Friday at Florida Gulf Coast University, his staff said.
"The president is on the website multiple times, and look, in fact, the president's coming to Fort Myers tomorrow for a big rally that Byron, the congressman, is very excited to be there and speak at," said Donalds' spokesman Gates McAvick.
"Byron is really proud to be endorsed by President Trump and by Governor Ron DeSantis, and it shows that there's a tremendous amount of Republican unity behind his ticket," he added.
For voters like Charlie Mooney, a small business owner who is getting squeezed by rising prices, a Trump endorsement isn't a good thing.
"Did I vote for him? Yes. But am I proud? No. There's some things that I totally disagree with. I mean, I really do," said Mooney.
As to the governor's race, Mooney said he's still on the fence, but leaning toward Donalds, the Brooklyn-raised son of a single mom, because Mooney sees him as a family man who has struggled financially, too. Mooney hopes Donalds will lower taxes and boost the economy.
"I'm not here just because I'm a Republican. I want somebody that's going to be honest, truthful. And if it turns out to be a Democrat, I'll vote Democrat easily," said Mooney.
