Byron Donalds

Rep. Dan Bishop hit back at Cori Bush on Thursday after she said Black Republican Byron Donalds was a "prop" and accused him of upholding white supremacy.

[Rep.-elect Chip Roy,](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/speakers-race-chip-roy-gets-standing-ovation-noting-historic-nominations-2-black-americans) R-Texas, was met with a standing ovation from both parties on Wednesday after nominating Donalds for Speaker and tipping his hat to Democratic nominee Hakeem Jeffries. Bush, considered a member of the far-left "Squad," wrote in a tweet on Wednesday that Donalds propped up "white supremacy." MSNBC's "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough asked Bishop about his problem with McCarthy and wondered whether he trusted him to take a tough stance even if it might hurt him politically. I sat behind him because I want him to know, if he wants to fight on something, wants to go to the mat for the American people, I will walk through fire for him. He emerged as a protest candidate this week as some Republicans like Bishop continue to oppose Kevin McCarthy's bid for the post. "When Byron Donalds was nominated yesterday, a Democratic member elect tweeted that he's a prop.

As the U.S. House of Representatives made its way through a historic sixth vote for speaker of the chamber, a Republican.

Since leaving the school board, Erika Donalds has scored a number of prominent appointments from top GOP officials in the state. Donalds helped start and run the Mason Classical Academy, a charter school in Collier County. Donalds grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a single mother. (He is no longer involved with the school.) His wife, Erika Donalds, served a term on the county school board from 2014 to 2018. He settled in the education realm. (Before this week, no vote for House speaker had gone past the first round of voting in a century.) Rep.-elect Byron Donalds represents a Southwest Florida congressional district that ranges from the Fort Myers area in the north to Marco Island in the south. After college, he went into the finance industry, according to his congressional biography. For a relative newcomer to Congress, Donalds is a seasoned politico. (Neither passed.) As a state representative, Donalds successfully sponsored a criminal justice reform measure raising the [threshold](https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/05/03/florida-legislature-sends-criminal-justice-reform-to-desantis-but-advocates-see-mixed-victory/) at which a theft becomes a felony from $300 to $750. As the U.S.

Much of America learned about Rep.-elect Byron Donalds when the Naples Republican emerged as an alternative for House Speaker. He received 20 votes on three ...

[filed ethics complaints](https://floridapolitics.com/archives/349176-former-collier-county-school-board-member-files-ethical-complaint-against-byron-donalds/) in Florida against Donalds, saying he lied on documents in the past about past criminal problems including bribery and theft arrests in New York. But already, his role in the closely watched Speaker race has elevated his national profile at a time when he was already considering higher ambitions. [a vote](https://floridapolitics.com/archives/578800-byron-donalds-picks-up-a-single-vote-for-house-speaker/) for Speaker on the first ballot on Tuesday, from Rep.-elect Chip Roy of Texas. Paul Renner, who [formally took over](https://www.google.com/search?q=floridapolitics+renner+speaker&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS986US986&oq=floridapolitics+renner+speaker&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64j69i60l2.3726j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) as Speaker of the statehouse in November. Rep.-elect Scott Perry, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, stresses as much while nominating Donalds in the most recent vote for Speaker. “Now as my colleagues probably know, the first Black members of Congress to serve in this body were Republicans,” Perry said. “FWIW, Byron Donalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He also had to publicly push back at the time on rumors he favored DeSantis over Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election. Rick Scott, a fellow Naples Republican, is up for election in 2026, the incumbent is expected to seek re-election, so a Donalds run still is unlikely. “I committed my support to him publicly and for two votes on the House Floor. Also of note, Donalds has long been viewed as an ally of DeSantis. He did not comment for this story.

Rep.-elect Byron Donalds slammed Democratic Rep.-elect Cori Bush for alleging his nomination to serve as House speaker was "pathetic."

[Bush](/topics/cori-bush/) said. [He](/topics/byron-donalds/) is a prop. [Donalds](/topics/byron-donalds/), who House Republican hard-liners claimed was a historic candidate for speaker.

Who is Byron Donalds? Rebel Republicans rally around the Florida congressman to defeat McCarthy. Donalds describes himself as “everything the fake news media ...

.. In a negotiation with Chuck Schumer I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of Byron Donalds.” Scott Perry of Pennsylvania awkwardly evoked Frederick Douglass in praising Donalds, saying Wednesday that the abolitionist “went and worked with Abraham Lincoln to emancipate the people of color in this country and said he would never be anything but a Republican. “We do not seek to judge people by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character,” Roy said. Cori Bush of Missouri, who is Black, tweeted that he’s being used as a “prop.” He also was [among the 147 Republicans in Congress](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html) who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Donalds’ wife, Erika Donalds, with whom he has three children, is also a conservative Republican and involved in state politics. In 2020, he won a Donalds said the incident inspired him to change his life and eventually emerge from businessman to politician. Byron Donalds, a conservative two-term lawmaker from Florida who is considered a rising star in the GOP but is still relatively unknown nationally. He completed a diversion program on the drug charge and the other was expunged. Donalds’ campaign website describes him as “everything the fake news media says doesn’t exist: a Trump supporting, liberty loving, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment black man.” That 20-vote faction has prevented McCarthy from reaching a majority of 218 votes, since he can afford to lose no more than four votes from his caucus to be elected speaker.

Incoming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday stressed a message of "unity" in the party but pivoted when asked about another Democrat's ...

[CONSERVATIVE HEAVYWEIGHTS CALL FOR NEW HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP AFTER MCCARTHY FAILED TO CLINCH HOUSE SPEAKER](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/conservative-heavyweights-call-new-house-gop-leadership-mccarthy-failed-clinch-house-speaker) "FWIW, @ByronDonalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. [House Republicans](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-holdout-dan-bishop-says-he-will-resign-bid-stop-mccarthy-fails) will stop the bickering, stop the backbiting, and stop the backstabbing of each other… Ted Kennedy got along with Orrin Hatch. "The Republicans have created a mess on their side and the Republicans need to sort it out," he added. It's my hope that today the

Byron Donalds said he's "not worried" about being punished for defying Kevin McCarthy's bid to become the next speaker of the House.

McCarthy has reportedly offered some concessions to disgruntled Republicans, including rules reforms and commitments not to have the House Republican-aligned political action committee interfere in open primaries. Due to the standstill, the new House has not yet been sworn in, and business in the chamber has ground to a halt amid uncertainty over committee compositions. Meanwhile, McCarthy has already moved into the speaker's office. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) in changing sides, though she opted to vote "present" instead of backing the dissidents. [Republican](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/republican) to flip sides against McCarthy during the protracted GOP standoff in the lower chamber and became the nominee for rebel Republicans Wednesday, but downplayed fears McCarthy might strike back by booting him from sought-after committee roles. Donalds voted in favor of McCarthy getting the gavel twice Tuesday but switched sides after concluding the California Republican lacked a pathway.