Byron Donalds


Byron Lowell Donalds is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 19th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020. His congressional district includes much of Southwest Florida.
Born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Donalds attended Florida A&M University before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and marketing from Florida State University in 2002. Prior to entering politics, Donalds worked in the finance, insurance, and banking industries.
Situated in the conservative or MAGA wing of the Republican Party, Donalds was a member of the Tea Party movement and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. He represented the 80th district in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020.
Donalds was elected to Congress in 2020, defeating Democratic nominee Cindy Banyai. In the January 2023 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives election, Donalds was nominated for the speakership in the fourth through 11th rounds of voting. Several months later, he was again a candidate for the October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election. In February of 2024, Donald Trump said that Donalds was among those he was considering as a running mate, and media outlets subsequently listed him as a potential vice-presidential nominee.
In February 2025, Donalds announced his candidacy for governor of Florida in the 2026 election. Days earlier, Trump had posted on Truth Social that Donalds would have his “Complete and Total Endorsement,” and Donalds entered the race with Trump’s backing.

Early life and education

Donalds was born and raised in the Crown Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. One of three children, he was raised by his single mother. In 1996, Donalds graduated from Nazareth Regional High School in East Flatbush. Donalds is of Jamaican and Panamanian heritage.
In 1997, Donalds was charged with marijuana possession, but the charges were dropped as part of a pre-trial diversion program, and he was fined $150. In 2000, he pleaded no contest to a felony theft charge for allegedly attempting to defraud a bank, but his record was later sealed and expunged.
According to an attorney consulted by the fact-checking site PolitiFact, "Donalds would not have been able to get his record expunged if the state considered him a convicted felon."
Donalds attended Florida A&M University, subsequently transferring to Florida State University. In 2002, he graduated from FSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and marketing.

Career

Donalds began his professional career in 2003 as a credit analyst at TIB Bank. He was promoted to senior credit analyst in 2004, and later promoted to commercial credit manager, assistant vice president, and credit manager. Donalds left TIB Bank in 2007 and took a position as a portfolio manager at CMG Surety LLC. In 2015, he joined Wells Fargo Advisors as a Financial Advisor.
In 2010, Donalds left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party. After becoming involved in the Tea Party movement, he was encouraged to run for office.
In 2012, Donalds was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 19th congressional district. He finished fifth of six candidates. In 2014, he was reported as a likely candidate for the U.S. House in Florida's 19th congressional district after Trey Radel resigned, but did not run.
Donalds was elected to the Florida House of Representatives for District 80 in 2016. During his Florida House tenure, he chaired the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2020

Donalds was the Republican nominee for Florida's 19th congressional district in the 2020 election, running to succeed retiring incumbent Francis Rooney. He won a crowded nine-way Republican primary by 770 votes over state representative Dane Eagle, finishing just over the threshold to avoid a recount. Republicans have a 550,000-voter advantage over Democrats in registration, and Florida Gulf Coast University professor Peter Bergerson noted that the Republican primary is almost always the real contest for most races in the area. In August 2020, anonymous text messages were sent out to constituents in the 19th district claiming that Donalds was dropping out of the race. Donalds later clarified via tweet that he was not dropping out and called the messages "illegal".
During his campaign, Donalds described himself as a "Trump supporting, gun owning, liberty loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man." He stated his support for economic freedom, clean water, nuclear power and decreased government involvement in health care. He opposed the Green New Deal.
In the November general election, Donalds defeated Democratic nominee Cindy Banyai. Donalds said he would focus on policy related to water quality in Southwest Florida. Upon his swearing-in on January 3, 2021, Donalds became the sixth person to represent this district since its creation in 1983.

Tenure in Congress

In late 2020, Donalds was identified as a participant in the "Freedom Force", a group of incoming House Republicans who "say they’re fighting against socialism in America". The following year Donalds was blocked from joining the Congressional Black Caucus. File:U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.jpg|thumb|Donalds with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary Sean Duffy, 2025

2020 election

In January 2021, Donalds voted to object to the certification of electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election. Donalds has since claimed that Joe Biden was not the legitimate president of the United States, a claim he repeated in a Vanity Fair interview in July 2023.

January 2023 Speaker of the House election

On January 3, 2023, Donalds received one vote in the 118th Congress's first election for Speaker of the House, from Chip Roy. Donalds voted for Kevin McCarthy on the first two ballots, then for Jim Jordan on the third. On January 4, on the fourth ballot, Roy nominated Donalds for Speaker, and he received 20 votes. This marked the first time two Black lawmakers were nominated for Speaker, the other being Democratic nominee Hakeem Jeffries. He was nominated by Lauren Boebert on the fifth ballot, and again received 20 votes. He was sequentially nominated by Scott Perry, Dan Bishop, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, and Anna Paulina Luna on the sixth to tenth ballots. He was not nominated on the 11th ballot, but still received 12 votes. Donalds switched his vote back to McCarthy after House Republican leadership made many concessions to House Freedom Caucus members.

Subcommittee hearing on Hurricane Ian

On August 10, 2023, Donalds was one of the main questioners during the United States House Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce's televised investigative hearing on the federal government's response to and overall recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian in 2022. Questions from Donalds led to Congress discovering various government agencies had "regulatory hurdles, miscommunication, and burdensome administrative requirements", which made recovery efforts difficult and that FEMA did not "tap into the expertise on the local level and pre-certify people from the city".

October 2023 candidacy for Speaker

Donalds was a candidate for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the October 2023 election. File:President Donald Trump gives remarks after presenting the newly-created "Medal of Sacrifice" to three fallen officers' families from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Monday, May 19, 2025 P20250519JB-0227.jpg|thumb|Donalds speaking in the Oval Office during a ceremony rewarding the newly-created "Medal of Sacrifice" to three fallen deputies of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, May 2025

Comments on Jim Crow era

In a political outreach event in June 2024, Donalds opined as follows about the Jim Crow era:
You see, during Jim Crow, the black family was together. During Jim Crow, more black people were not just conservative, black people have always been conservative-minded, but more black people voted conservatively. And then, HEW, Lyndon Johnson, and then you go down that road, and now we are where we are. What's happened in America the last ten years, and I say it because it's my contemporaries…you're starting to see more black people be married in homes raising kids.

After some backlash against those remarks, Donalds denied “that Black people were doing better under Jim Crow” or that “Jim Crow is great”, and also denied having been inaccurate when he said that black marriage rates were relatively high during that era.

Committee assignments

For the 119th Congress:
File:Senator Ashley Moody and Congressman Byron Donalds with NASA Chief of Staff Brian Hughes, 2025.jpg|thumb|Donalds with Senator Ashley Moody and NASA chief of staff Brian Hughes, 2025

Caucus memberships

2012

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

Personal life

Byron Donalds married Bisa Hall on June 15, 1999. They divorced in 2002.
Donalds married Erika Lees on March 15, 2003. They have three sons and live in Naples, Florida.