With Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan failing on his third attempt to become the next U.S. House speaker on Friday, the race is wide open and Southwest Florida Rep. Byron Donalds has become a confirmed candidate for the position.
At least three members of the Florida GOP congressional delegation say that they are backing him for speaker.
“I supported @Jim Jordan as our next Speaker,” wrote Central Florida Republican Cory Mills on X. “Unfortunately my votes for him on the floor and in conference to remain Speaker designate was not enough. I now support @ByronDonalds for the next Speaker of the House.”
South Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart — who had voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in protest this week — also says that he is now with Team Donalds.
“@ByronDonalds is an honorable leader and respected by the entire conference,” he wrote on X. “That is why it is a privilege to endorse Byron for speaker.”
And Sarasota County’s Vern Buchanan voted for Donalds on both the second and third ballots on Thursday and Friday.
“I’ve served with Byron, he’s a conservative champion, and I hope my colleagues will consider his name as we look for a way forward,” Buchanan said on Thursday. “It’s about time Florida had a seat at the table.”
Donalds had been supporting Jordan for speaker. When asked on Thursday if he would consider being speaker if Jordan got out of the race, Donalds said: “People float my name for a lot of things. Right now I’m here to do a lot of things. We have to fund the government.”
The Naples resident became nationally known in January, when he emerged for a couple of days as an alternative candidate for U.S. speaker before House Republicans ultimately elected Kevin McCarthy of California to the post on the 15th ballot.
Donalds, who turns 45 next week, has served as the U.S. House in Florida’s 19th Congressional District, encompassing parts of both Lee and Collier counties along Florida’s Gulf Coast since January 2021. Prior to that he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016-2020.
At that time, Donalds was one of the few Black Republicans in the Florida Legislature. And now, Donalds is one of the few Black Republicans in the U.S. House.
If he were to win the Speaker’s race, Donalds would make history by becoming the first Black man to lead the U.S. House of Representatives. Meanwhile, New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries was elected last year to be the first Black House Minority Leader, making him the first Black person to lead a major party’s Caucus in either chamber of Congress.
Donalds was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Florida State University in 2002, where he received a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing. His career then took him to Southwest Florida, where he worked in banking, finance, and insurance.
Donalds first ran for Congress in 2012 but came in fifth in a six-person Republican primary. He filed to run in 2014 but ultimately stood down. His electoral career recommenced in 2016, when he won election to the Florida House of Representatives.
Following two terms there, Donalds narrowly won a Republican primary for his congressional district in 2020 (winning by less than 1 percentage point over state House Republican Dane Eagle) before easily defeating Democrat Cindy Banyai by more than 22 percentage points in the general election. He beat Banyai in a rematch last November by 36 points.
The States Newsroom has updated the House Speaker story, including the six men so far who are running for the position: Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Austin Scott of Georgia, Pete Sessions of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida and Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix