Who is Byron Donalds? Meet the Florida man at the center of the congressional chaos
As the U.S. House of Representatives made its way through more votes for speaker of the chamber on Wednesday, a Republican legislator from Florida found himself at the center of a political firestorm.
U.S. Rep Byron Donalds represents a Southwest Florida congressional district that ranges from the Fort Myers area in the north to Marco Island in the south. He was elected to his second term in Congress last November.
And as of Wednesday, he represented the biggest challenge to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to lead the House chamber.
During the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of voting, at least 20 of Donalds’ Republican colleagues — all staunchly conservative members — cast their votes for Donalds instead of for McCarthy, the party’s longtime House leader.
Given the narrow Republican majority in the House — and the Democrats’ unity in supporting their leader, New York’s Hakeem Jeffries, for speaker — those 20 votes have stopped California’s McCarthy from becoming speaker. (Prior to this week, no vote for House speaker had gone past the first round of voting in a century.)
It’s not Donalds’ first foray into Republican U.S.
House leadership. Late last year, he ran for the No. 3 leadership position but lost to Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, 14474.
RISING STAR
Donalds, 44, is young, conservative and outspoken. He is a vocal supporter of both Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump — and he frequently appears at events with both men.
As a lawmaker, he has tried to build up an environmentalist image: Among the U.S. House
bills that he has sponsored are at least two that focus on protecting communities from “harmful algal blooms.” (Neither passed.) As a state representative, Donalds successfully sponsored a criminal-justice measure raising the threshold at which a theft becomes a felony from $300 to $750. He’s a Black legislator who is supportive of law enforcement and against the teaching of so-called “critical race theory.”
For a relative newcomer to Congress, Donalds is a seasoned politico.
He first ran for U.S. House in 2012, losing in the primary. He was elected to serve two terms in Tallahassee as a state representative starting in 2016 before narrowly winning a hotly contested GOP congressional primary in 2020. He cruised to victory in the general election later that year in the deep-red congressional seat.
‘MISTAKES’
Donalds grew up in Brooklyn, the son of a single mother. He graduated from Florida State University in 2002. After
college, he went into the finance industry, according to his congressional biography.
He settled in the education realm. Donalds helped start and run the Mason Classical Academy, a charter school in Collier County. (He is no longer involved with the school.) His wife, Erika Donalds, served a term on the county School Board from 2014 to 2018. They have three children together.
Donalds, 44, has spoken often on the campaign trail about the adversities that he overcame as a younger man, particularly being arrested for distributing marijuana as an 18-year-old. Three years later he was charged with bribery — a charge that was later expunged.
“These were the actions of a young kid,” he told a local Fox affiliate in 2014. “I can’t undo that. I can’t undo my mistakes The only thing I can do is show and become the man that I am today for my family and the community that I love.”
Since coming to Congress, Donalds has defended the GOP and former President Donald Trump from accusations of racism. Donalds frequently criticized liberal lawmakers — and specifically the Congressional Black Caucus — for its stances on racial matters.
“As a Black man in America, I’m allowed to have my own thoughts on who I choose to support and who I choose not to support,” he previously told CNN while discussing his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. “My support of President Trump has been consistent, but at the same time, I’ve had the ability to advocate for issues, ideas, proposals and funding that have helped the Black community in my state.”