Despite 11 rounds of voting held already, the US House of Representatives is no closer to choosing a Speaker than it was a few days ago. With the Republican Party holding a razor-thin majority in the 435-member House, and 20 far-right ultra-conservative representatives refusing to vote for Kevin McCarthy, the body is in a stalemate. One of the candidates who has emerged as a nominee for these breakaways is Byron Donalds.
Who is Byron Donalds?
Elected from Florida's 19th congressional district in 2020, Byron Donalds is “a strong, Trump-supporting, gun-owning, liberty-loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man”, in his own words. Raised by a single mother, Donalds focused on issues like criminal justice reform and improving Florida’s education system. A Brooklyn native, Donalds holds a Bachelor of Science in finance and marketing from Florida State University, Donalds entered politics during the Tea Party Movement of the later 2000s.
In 2012, Donalds entered politics and in 2016 he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. His 2020 election to the House was supported by then President Donald Trump who had tweeted “Rising Star” with his “Complete and Total Endorsement!” for Donalds.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was one of 147 Republicans who voted to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election and also defended voting restriction measures instituted by the Republican Party in his state of Florida.
His nomination to the post of speaker is historic as it is the first time that both parties have nominated a Black person to lead the House. The Democrats have nominated Hakeem Jeffries. Donalds was first nominated during the fourth ballot by Chip Roy. From the fourth till the 10th ballot, Donalds was nominated by Lauren Boebert, Scott Perry, Dan Bishop, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale and Anna Paulina Luna sequentially. Donalds received as many as 20 votes, all of them from the members of the so-called Freedom Caucus that is in loggerheads with McCarthy.
Is he likely to win?
Despite McCarthy’s historic defeats slowly dragging on due to the ultra-far right members, Donalds is unlikely to come on top of the election. Most agree that Steve Scalise of Louisana is the most likely consensus candidate for the Republicans. More importantly, Donalds doesn’t seem too keen on the job anyway. When asked if he wanted the position, Donalds responded by saying “Nah, not really,” to CNN.
