Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is open to running for governor of Florida should Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) make a bid for the presidency.
The Florida Republican has been a rising star in the House since he was elected in 2020 and was nominated for speaker of the House during the contentious election in January that eventually installed Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the role. DeSantis hasn't announced a run, but he's a favorite alternative to former President Donald Trump.
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Donalds told CNN that he's open to the possibility of running for governor if DeSantis stepped down to run for president. DeSantis will not be able to seek reelection in 2026 due to term limits, opening the field for a successor such as Donalds.
Donalds aligned himself with Trump during his 2020 election and has been generally supportive of the former president. However, he has declined to endorse Trump since he announced his 2024 White House bid in November. Donalds, with the backing of a conservative bloc of lawmakers, put himself forward as an alternative speaker to McCarthy during the January election, which also broke with Trump's endorsement of McCarthy.
“We don’t do lockstep politics on our side of the aisle,” Donalds told CNN of split loyalties among House Republicans ahead of 2024. “So everybody’s going to make a decision of who they want to support early.”
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The 2024 Republican presidential field includes former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, while Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence appear to be preparing to mount bids. President Joe Biden is expected to disclose his reelection campaign in the coming weeks, and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, who ran in 2020, announced her intent to challenge Biden last week.
Donalds received enough votes during the speakership election to keep McCarthy from the gavel in the fourth through 11th ballots. McCarthy eventually made enough rules concessions to convince Donalds and most of the other holdouts to vote for him.