WASHINGTON, DC – Speaking at “Trump-a-Palooza” in Dallas last night, Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds (FL-19) attacked Democratic opponent David Jolly’s home insurance plan, with factless fearmongering, while dodging the real crisis in the state: Floridians already pay the highest home insurance premiums in the country because of his and other Republicans’ actions.
“Byron Donalds wants Floridians to fear a hurricane relief fund paid for by excessive insurance company profits, but he has nothing to say about Floridians already paying the most expensive home insurance in America,” said Jayson O’Neill, spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “Republicans control Congress, and Florida Republicans have controlled Tallahassee for decades, yet homeowners are still footing the bill so insurance corporations can keep posting record returns. If Donalds wants to talk honestly about insurance, he should start with his own and the Florida Republican Party’s failed record, resulting in the highest home insurance costs in the nation, instead of misrepresenting his opponent’s.”
Donalds has also taken in more than $108,000 in campaign contributions from property and casualty insurance companies, brokers, and agents over his political career, while voting with House Republicans to cut FEMA’s disaster preparedness budget by nearly $300 million. Donalds also voted for legislation that slashed weather forecasting and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, hindering our nation’s ability to predict severe weather and hurricanes. NOAA resources provide critical resources for community and home hardening decisions along with insurers’ risk modeling.
Donalds’ description does not match Jolly’s actual proposal. Jolly has proposed funding the $30 to $40 billion catastrophic fund by taxing insurance company profits and using tourist development tax revenue, not through new charges on renters or drivers. The proposal aims to cut private premiums by 60 to 70 percent by removing hurricane risk from the private market entirely.
Florida home insurance rates rose 49 percent between 2020 and 2025, among the steepest increases in the nation, and Florida posted the nation’s highest home insurance non-renewal rate in 2024, up 1.7 times since 2018, even as the industry posted record nationwide profits.
Before his run for governor, Rep. Donalds went silent when asked about proposed home insurance reforms that would help Floridians and working families across the country in 2024, and failed to garner a single co-sponsor or have a hearing on his national flood insurance legislation last congressional session.
“Floridians need real reform that will lower costs and risks, not more empty rhetoric and gimmicks from the same desperate politicians who’ve helped create this crisis in the first place,” said O’Neill.
Email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com to set up interviews with ratings, legal, advocacy, and insurance experts.
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