Trump campaigns in Florida following backlash over Ramaswamy campaign ad

President Donald Trump is travelling to Florida on October 23, 2026, to speak at a campaign rally for gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and other Republican political candidates, according to The Guardian and MSNBC. Early voting is currently underway across the state of Florida. The Guardian reported that Donalds has removed mentions of Trump from his website and has rarely mentioned the president during his campaign for governor. [1][2]

Trump's appearance in Florida follows public controversy surrounding a political advertisement produced by Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor in Ohio. PBS NewsHour reported that Trump defended Ramaswamy's campaign ad, which features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. According to CNN and The Palm Beach Post, Trump told Ramaswamy not to take down the ad, called Acton fair game, and labelled Republicans who criticized the commercial as weak. [1][3][5][6][7][10]

As FTMQ News reported earlier, Ramaswamy allocated four million dollars to promote the political advertisement, in which Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, urges voters to reject her daughter. Acton condemned the commercial, stating that her mother remained married to a person who sexually abused Acton during her childhood. [15]

MSNBC reported that Trump is heading to a Republican stronghold on Florida's gulf coast in Fort Myers to mobilize voters ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. While Florida remains a traditional Republican stronghold where support for Trump is strong, voters in the state are dealing with economic frustration, including gas prices rising above four dollars a gallon. [1][2]