In perhaps a significant – but not shocking – moment, Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) has endorsed Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) for Speaker of the House.
This is not the first time that Rep. Roy has given Rep. Donalds the nod. In January during former Speaker McCarthy’s eventual election process, Rep. Roy nominated the Florida congressman as the Freedom Caucus’ choice to oppose the establishment’s McCarthy.
On Monday, Roy stated that “Republicans will now coalesce around another strong leader.”
"The American people deserve to win again...and Byron Donalds is the man to deliver that change." pic.twitter.com/t1T6AUnOhA
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) October 23, 2023
“Since being elected to represent Texans in Washington, I have been unequivocal that we need to fundamentally change this town … While I still believe Jim [Jordan] would have been a strong choice for Speaker, Republicans will now coalesce around another strong leader,” said Roy.
He continued, “Last January, I nominated Byron for Speaker when I joined with 19 colleagues to demand an end to the status quo and to fight for transformational change. Over the past 10 months, Byron and I worked with Speaker McCarthy to take significant steps to reopen the legislative process, pass the strongest border security bill this body has ever produced, work to cut spending through the Limit, Save, Grow Act, move individual appropriations bills, pass a conservative defense reauthorization bill, and more.”
The Texas congressman said that Donalds will empower the Republican Conference to cut spending, secure the border, decouple Israel and Ukraine spending, fight wokeness in the military, and “honor the transformative changes we secured in January to open the People’s House and maintain appropriate ideological representation at the decision-table.”
Rep. Roy concluded, “Byron is a strong communicator backed by a conservative voting record who has simultaneously played a central role in bringing together members from across the Republican conference to advance conservative priorities. To that end, I plan to hold Speaker Donalds just as accountable to those priorities as I did Speaker McCarthy, just as Byron would expect me to do. The American people deserve to win again. They deserve someone who can finish the job we started back in January. They deserve a change and Byron Donalds is the man to deliver that change.”
If elected, Rep. Donalds would be the first Black Speaker of the House in the nation’s history.
