Rep. Byron Donalds from Florida was once again nominated for House speaker as the floor fight over the gavel continues Thursday.
Donalds voted for McCarthy on the first two ballots, but broke from the majority of his colleagues to vote for Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on the third ballot with conservative hardliners.
“Right now, he doesn’t have a pathway to get there,” Donalds told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins after voting against McCarthy Tuesday. “If that reemerges, yeah, I can be there, that’s fine, but what’s necessary now is that Republicans come together and find a way to elect a speaker.”
Donalds is serving his second term, winning his first election in 2020 after GOP Rep. Francis Rooney vacated Florida’s 19th Congressional District seat, and his second in 2022 in a landslide victory.
During his first campaign, Donalds described himself in a political ad as a “Trump-supporting, gun-owning, liberty-loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man.”
In the same political ad, Donalds describes being arrested as a young man for drug possession and deciding to get his life together “through the grace of God.”
Donalds was raised in Brooklyn, New York, by a “single mom with three kids, two jobs and not much else,” he said. “Thanks to my mom and her influence, what could have been the end of my road was just the beginning.”
Both Reps. Chip Roy and Scott Perry, who nominated Donalds on the sixth ballot, referred to Donalds overcoming “adversity” and “humble beginnings” to get to the House floor, mentioning his upbringing.
The Florida State University graduate worked in the banking, finance and insurance industries before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016, according to his office.
Donalds, 44, lives in Naples, Florida, with his wife and three sons.
