When Byron Donalds thinks Florida’s growth is out of control, you know things are bad.

Last week Donalds, the Southwest Florida Congressman now running for Governor, told a crowd in St. Petersburg that managing growth is integral to protecting the “Florida dream.” Which, at rush hour in many corners of the state, has come to resemble a nightmare.

“You have to have a growth management plan for the future of our state,” Donalds told the crowd. That runs counter to the current ethos, which is to grow as much as possible everywhere and if that means leapfrogging urban growth boundaries and bulldozing panther habitat, hey, it’s all good so long as developers and their hand-picked politicians keep banking the big checks.

But that ethos seems to be grating on more and more Floridians’ nerves, and out-of-control growth is becoming a campaign issue throughout the state — as it should.

At the county commissioner level we’re definitely seeing it in Martin County, where insurgent Chris Collins, a former Stuart City Commissioner and Mayor, is challenging incumbent Stacey Hetherington in District 2. Growth will be the biggest issue in that race. On the west coast, Amanda Cochran is running for the District 5 seat currently held by DeSantis appointee Trish Petrosky. Cochran’s not anti-growth; on her campaign website she says she favors “responsible development and real solutions to traffic and infrastructure.”

But the Lee County political establishment apparently considers that a radical position.

At the state level, Stuart attorney Tom Colter — a candidate to replace termed-out state Rep. Toby Overdorf in District 85 — put out a mailer earlier this month identifying “overdevelopment” as a top issue; he vows he’ll prioritize “protecting our neighborhoods and quality of life.”

And so on. Some of these candidates have a real shot at winning, some may not; but all understand that uncontrolled development has become a defining issue — and that, as the Tampa Bay Times suggested in its coverage of Donalds’ remarks, we may be at a pivot point.

Be prepared for other politicians to follow suit, praising wild Florida even as they continue to pocket “dirty money” from developers. They know which way the wind is blowing.

But recall that our state Legislature just wrapped a session that featured an astounding number of “pro-growth” bills like the infamous “Blue Ribbon Projects” proposal that would have made it easier to plop down entire new cities in rural areas. Most of these bills failed to pass but sponsors have said there’s more to come next year.

Business as usual in Florida continues. That is, until we the people — and the elected officials who would represent us — shout loudly enough to finally be heard over the din of the bulldozers.