Florida Republicans are on the verge of uniting behind one campaign to take down Democrat David Jolly, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), the leading GOP gubernatorial candidate, said during a stop in Sarasota on the eve of the Sunshine States’s primary Election Day.

“Go vote tomorrow, because once this primary is over, and I think Bill said in about 34 hours or so, in hour 35, we are one party, and we are one movement,” Donalds told the crowd ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, walking them through what Floridians are actually up against.

“Let’s be very clear about what the Democrats are now doing. They’re running this guy named David Jolly. Oh, you’ve heard of him now, because about a month ago, nobody ever heard of him,” he said, describing Jolly as a “Trojan horse for the Democrat Socialists of America [DSA].”

“Make no mistake about it. This is a guy who says it’s still ok to transgender our kids and to steal their puberty. I thought we’ve already worked this out in 2024. I thought the American people were loud and clear that young girls are to grow up to be young women, and young boys are to grow up to be men…” he said, reminding voters that Jolly and the radical left still believe it is ok to mutilate a child in this way.

“Well, I’m telling you, with no equivocation, as governor, we are going to protect the puberty of our children,” he promised. “David Jolly believes it’s okay for boys to play in girls’ sports. … Everybody already knows that makes no sense. Boys are bigger, stronger, and faster. That’s just a fact of life. And I know the radical left keeps trying to remake society, but we conservatives, and quite frankly, we people who just believe in common sense, we just want to raise our kids and be left alone,” he said, promising to continue to protect girls’ sports.

“We’re not going to have boys in girls’ locker rooms, and we’re not going to have boys competing against girls — that’s not the standard in Florida,” he said, also highlighting Jolly’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. During that time, Jolly devoted his time to trashing Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), the latter of whom reopened the state and allowed individuals to make their own choices when it came to masking, vaccines, and running their businesses and lives. Instead, Jolly praised former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci’s mandates and actually mocked the entire notion of “personal freedom” as he hid in restriction-laden Pennsylvania during the pandemic.

“David Jolly has said that Dr. Fauci has unimpeachable judgments. Fauci — he said this when Ron DeSantis opened our state and let us be free from the radicalism of Fauci in the public health establishment — David Jolly packed his bags and went to Pennsylvania, and he criticized Ron DeSantis every step of the way on CNN and MSNBC,” Donalds pointed out.

“So anybody who chooses Fauci over Florida does not deserve to lead our state into the future,” he made clear.

“You see, folks, every four years we have to choose the future direction of our state, we have told the Democrats time and time again for the last 30 years that they do not have the judgment, they do not have the policy, and they do not have the cultural beliefs like you and I do to lead Florida into the future. And in 78 days, you are going to go to the polls again, and you’re going to tell the Democrats, hell no, because they can keep that crazy in California, they can have the idiocy of Chicago, and they are going to make sure that AOC and Mamdani stay in New York, but they’re not going to have power in the great state of Florida,” Donalds added.

Florida’s primary is Tuesday, August 18. The latest Real Clear Politics polling average shows Donalds up in his primary by an average of 34 percentage points.