On Tuesday, November 11, 2025, Miami held the 76th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner – Ruby Red Gala of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, an important political fundraising event. That day, Donalds was a special guest and the keynote speaker of the gala.

Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) also participated at the head table, where he took the opportunity to publicly offer his support for Donalds’s campaign as a candidate for governor of Florida.

U.S. Representative Byron Donalds has received significant backing in his campaign for the Florida governorship. Among his main supporters are:

President Donald J. Trump

Elon Musk

Senator Ted Cruz

Senator Rick Scott

Congressman Chip Roy

Congressman Neal Dunn

U.S. Representative Aaron Bean

Florida State Representative Meg Weinberger

U.S. Representative Jimmy Patronis, among others.

These endorsements reflect a solid and growing coalition of national and state leaders who support Rep. Donalds’s vision for Florida’s future.

Who is Byron Donalds?

Congressman Byron Donalds (born 1978) is a prominent American politician and a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida’s 19th District. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a single-parent household, and graduated from Florida State University with degrees in Finance and Marketing.

His political career began in 2016 when he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, where he represented counties in the southwest part of the state. During his time in the state legislature, he presided over the Education (PreK-12) and Insurance and Banking subcommittees, focusing on issues of senior services, criminal justice, and public education.

In 2020, he was elected to the U.S. Congress from Florida’s 19th district (taking office in 2021). His official biography highlights his commitment to the “conservative values” of that district and his experience in finance and the banking industry.

Donalds lives in Naples, Florida, with his wife Erika and three children, and he has served on school boards and community organizations under previous Republican appointments.

Political and Ideological Positions

Donalds is recognized as one of the most prominent African-American legislators within the Republican Party. He describes himself as a pro-life conservative with a right to bear arms. In speeches and interviews, he opposes proposals like the environmental “Green New Deal” and presents himself as a “politically incorrect Black conservative man” who defends free enterprise and traditional family values.

During 2024, his profile gained national visibility: he was included among the favorites to be former President Trump’s running mate, and he has been a speaker at conservative forums (for example, CPAC 2025) where he emphasized the fight against far-left ideology and anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party.