Florida state Representative Byron Donalds has just won election to the U.S. Congress in the Sunshine State’s 19th congressional district, making him only the third black Republican to represent Florida in the U.S. House.
Donalds will succeed retiring Republican Representative Francis Rooney, who promised he would serve only two terms. Rooney earned an 83-percent score on The New American’s most recent Freedom Index, which rates congressmen on their fidelity to the Constitution. The 19th district, which includes Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples, is heavily Republican.
Donalds, who is a partner in a Naples financial-services firm, describes himself as “Liberty-loving. Pro-Trump. Pro-2nd Amendment. Pro-life. Husband & father to 3. Conservative,” on his Twitter feed.
When Donalds announced his bid for Congress, he was endorsed by Senator Rand Paul, the NRA, the Republican Liberty Caucus, Gun Owners of America, Tea Party Express, and American for Prosperity, among others.
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Donalds, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, credits his mother with making “every sacrifice possible in order to give him the best opportunity at the American Dream.” After graduating from Florida State University in 2002, Donalds worked in the finance, insurance, and banking industries before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016.
Donalds listed some of his positions on his website, which included:
• Immigration: “We need to secure our southern border and reform our entry/exit visa system, so we eliminate visa overstays. That is why I support President Trump and his efforts to build a wall on our southern border and enforce our immigration laws.”
• Taxes: “Our federal government’s tax policy must be based upon the notion that that it is fundamentally immoral for the federal government to reach its hand into the pockets of the average working citizen on the 1st and 15th of every month. Until we approach tax policy in that manner, the federal government will continue taking the fruit of a man or woman’s labor, with no intent of ever returning, all the while redistributing wealth in a manner consistent with of the worst of European Socialism.”
• Second Amendment: “The 2nd amendment, your right to bear arms, is just as important as the rest of the Bill of Rights. That is why it is not only our civic duty as elected leaders and representatives, but as Americans to preserve and protect our Second Amendment and the Constitution.”
• Pro-life: “I believe, as stated in our Declaration of Independence, that each person is endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. The first among those is the right to life. Every life is valuable, from conception to natural death, and I will fight to protect the life of every unborn child without exception.”
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