On Tuesday, Rep.-elect Byron Donald (R-FL) shocked the House Chamber by switching his third vote from Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to Rep.-elect Jim Jordan (R-OH) for Speaker of the House. However, the Republican “Never-McCarthy-ers” nominated someone other than Rep.-elect Jordan today.
Rep.-elect Chip Roy (R-TX) nominated Donalds himself, making him the first African American to ever be nominated for Speaker of the House by Republicans, and only the second African American to be nominated by either party. The Democrats nominated Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) yesterday, making him the first.
The Florida State University graduate Donalds fell significantly short on Wednesday as he only totaled 20 votes. 198 less than the necessary number in order to hold the gavel. However, the fact that he was nominated at all was a shock to many.
Donalds was interviewed on “America Reports” on Fox News.
EXCLUSIVE: @ByronDonalds receives 20 speaker votes after being nominated for House Speaker in 4th round of voting.
He joins America Reports now.
"What we want to see is that leadership actually reflects where the American people are... pic.twitter.com/Y7ViFGXfT6
— America Reports (@AmericaRpts) January 4, 2023
“One of the core issues we have is that Washington is broken. The House does not function and so we want to see a process where power is actually devolved back to the members of Congress so that they can do the job on behalf of the people who sent them there,” stated Donalds.
Moreover, he went on to address the main question: Is Byron Donalds actively campaigning for the Speakership, or is he just the representation of the stalemate between the outsiders and the establishment?
“My intention is to make sure that we get a Speaker elected and then we start this process. It may or may not be me, but these are my intentions,” stated Donalds.
While he did preface his next statement by saying that he didn’t intend for it to come across as “anti-Kevin” but that the Speakership must be “earned” and not necessarily “given.”
“What we want to see is that the leadership reflects where the American people are. And that leadership is something that is earned here in the nation’s capital, not just given and that’s not an anti-Kevin statement. That’s an indictment of the political process here in Washington D.C.” said Donalds.
At the end of the interview, Donalds said that the path for McCarthy was possible, and that a path for himself is “less likely, but you know what, it’s D.C. you never know what happens.”
