Byron Lowell Donalds (born October 28, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 19th congressional district since 2021. His congressional district includes much of Southwest Florida. From 2016 to 2020, he served in the Florida House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, Donalds is its nominee in the 2026 Florida gubernatorial election.
Born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Donalds attended Florida A&M University before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance and marketing from Florida State University in 2002. Before entering politics, he 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.
Donalds was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016, representing the 80th district for two terms before being elected to Congress in 2020. He was reelected in 2022 and 2024. During his second congressional term, he was a nominee for Speaker of the House in the roll-call votes of January 2023 and October 2023. Donalds became the Republican nominee for governor of Florida in August 2026, and will face Democratic nominee David Jolly in the general election. If elected, Donalds would be Florida's first African American governor and the first African American governor elected in the Deep South.
Early life and education Byron Lowell 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 (by depositing a bad check), 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 Arts degree in finance and marketing.
Early 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.
Florida House of Representatives (2016–2020) 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. Over time, he became part of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.
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 (2021–present) 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 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 called himself 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 healthcare. 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 (it had been the 13th District from 1983 to 1993, the 14th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013).
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". In 2021, Donalds was blocked from joining the Congressional Black Caucus.
2020 election In January 2021, Donalds voted to object to the certification of electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election. Donalds later said that Joe Biden was not the legitimate president of the United States, a claim he repeated in a 2023 Vanity Fair interview.
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 and 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 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 Congress to discover 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.
Comments on Jim Crow era In a political outreach event in June 2024, Donalds said of the Jim Crow era:Phillip, Abby. “GOP's Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) Says, Black Family Was Together In Jim Crow Era; Trump Racks Up Major Legal Wins Delaying Georgia And Florida Cases; Trump's Two Cases On Hold Until Post-Elections; WSJ Report Reveals Biden Showing Signs Of Slipping; Senate Blocks Bill On Right To Contraception Access. Aired 10-11p ET ”, CNN (5 Jun 2024).
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.Richards, Zoë. "Rep. Byron Donalds defends comments about Jim Crow" , NBC News (6 Jun 2024).
In February 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.
Committee assignments For the 119th Congress, Donalds has been assigned on Committee on Financial Services, which includes Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence and Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, as well as Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which includes Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs and Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, Freedom Caucus, Sharia-Free America Caucus, and the Republican Study Committee.
CLC stock trades complaint On September 5, 2024, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed an ethics complaint accusing Donalds of violating the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by failing to disclose over 100 stock trades, totaling up to $1.6 million, made between 2022 and 2023.
2026 Florida gubernatorial campaign 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." If elected, Donalds would be Florida's first African-American governor.
Political positions Agriculture In March 2024, Donalds was one of ten House Republicans who signed a letter to the House Agriculture Committee opposing the inclusion of the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act or similar language in the 2024 farm bill. The EATS Act would have preempted state and local laws regulating agricultural products sold across state lines, including animal welfare laws like California's Proposition 12.
Education Donalds supports charter schools and school voucher programs. According to Mother Jones, in 2017, Donalds sponsored legislation that allocated millions of dollars of Florida state funding towards management fees for charter school companies. Donalds's wife, Erika, operates OptimaEd, a business operating multiple charter schools in Florida. During his tenure in the Florida legislature, Donalds co-sponsored a bill that allowed charter schools to collect additional funding via tax initiatives. He also established a state school voucher program.
Byron and Erika Donalds were founding members of Florida Citizens Alliance, an organization that has sought to remove from schools books that it believes indoctrinate students. The Donaldses are also affiliated with Moms for Liberty, which has also advocated for book removals. In 2017, Donalds introduced legislation making it easier for Florida residents to challenge school library books and textbooks they consider inappropriate.
Environment Donalds does not believe that climate change is caused by humans, saying that "the science is not settled on that". Donalds blamed European insurance companies for inflating insurance costs for homeowners in Florida by factoring climate change into their risk analysis. He suggested that climate change risk should not matter in assessing insurance costs.
Foreign policy