Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida surfaced as an alternative for conservative holdouts who refuse to support Kevin McCarthy‘s bid for House speaker as Republicans fought for a speaker for a second day. Donalds received 20 votes to McCarthy’s 201 in the three rounds of voting on Wednesday (4 January), stopping McCarthy from earning the 218 votes required to be elected speaker of the full House. Republicans opposing McCarthy submitted a diverse slate of candidates on Tuesday, including former New York Representative Lee Zeldin and Arizona Representatives Andy Biggs and Jim Jordan. On Tuesday’s final vote, Donalds flipped his vote from McCarthy to Jordan, siding with the renegade Republicans.
Byron Donalds: Early days
Donalds, 44, was elected to a second term in Florida’s 19th Congressional District in the state’s southwest in November. He won a nine-way GOP (another way of saying Republican party) primary to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Francis Rooney and defeated his Democratic challenger in his first election in 2020.
He was raised by a single mother in Brooklyn and graduated from Florida State University in 2002. He was working as a financial counselor when then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed him to the board of trustees of a public college, elevating him in the Republican Party of Florida. His wife, Erika Donalds, supports the state’s school choice movement.
Donalds admitted to having been detained as a young man on a marijuana distribution charge that was later dismissed, and he claimed to have transformed his life as a result of that experience. He ran unsuccessfully for the US House in 2012 but was elected to the Georgia House four years later.
House speaker votes
McCarthy had “done fantastic things” for House Republicans, Donalds told CBS in December 2021. “So right now, the question is, who’s going to be the person that’s going to take us to the next level?” He said. “Kevin’s proven he can do that.”
On Tuesday, Donalds supported McCarthy in the first two rounds of voting before voting for Jordan in the third. As a result, He stated, “truth is… McCarthy doesn’t have the votes.”
“This will take time, and democracy may be messy at times,” Donalds remarked. “Debate is good for you.”
When Donalds’ name was put up for nomination on Wednesday, he received votes in his favor. Following one of those votes, He appeared on Fox to push for leadership that “reflects where the American people are, and that leadership is something that is earned here in the nation’s Capitol, not just given.”
What do other representatives think of Byron Donalds?
On Tuesday, only one member, Texas Rep. Chip Roy, voted for Donalds as a speaker before flipping to Jordan. Roy noted in his speech introducing Donalds on Wednesday that the sophomore represented a transformation for both Washington and the Republican Party.
For the first time in history, two Black Americans have been nominated for Speaker of the House. Donalds is one of only four Black Republicans in the House.
Donalds was referred to as a “prop” by Cori Bush, a Black Democratic congressman from Missouri.
“Despite his race, he supports a policy agenda aimed at maintaining and promoting white supremacy. “Having his name in the mix is not progress; it is pitiful,” she tweeted.
Furthermore, Nominating Donalds in the fifth round, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado said the House’s job “is not to coronate the biggest fundraiser, or rubberstamp the status quo or keep on going along to get along. It’s to use our votes to elect a speaker who will enable us to get our country back on track.”
