India, Aug. 19 -- Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for Florida governor, has faced renewed scrutiny over two criminal cases from his youth as his political career reaches its biggest stage. Donalds, who won the GOP nomination on August 18, acknowledged the incidents.

The cases date to 1997 and 2000, when Donalds was a young man attending college in Florida. Neither case resulted in him serving time in prison, and the records were later dismissed or expunged. But the details have resurfaced repeatedly during his political campaigns and again during the 2026 governor's race.

Donalds was arrested in 1997, at age 18 or 19, on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, according to Leon County court records reviewed by PolitiFact.

The ...