Byron Donalds reps a new wave of Black Republicans
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With help from Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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Hello there, Recast family! Indiana’s Republican attorney general says his office planned to investigate the doctor who helped a 10-year-old pregnant rape victim, the House votes on a pair of abortion bills and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin rejects his party’s proposed energy and climate investments. But today, we’re getting the perspective of a rising GOP star.
One of two Black Republicans in the House, freshman Rep. Byron Donalds is making a name for himself within the GOP. Representing Florida’s 19th Congressional District, which overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, Donalds embodies the values of the modern GOP-er: fiscally conservative, anti-abortion and staunch defender of the right to carry a gun.
He also serves as a lieutenant in today’s culture wars, railing against critical race theory, rebutting the findings of the Jan. 6 committee and standing behind the biggest figure in the Republican Party: Donald Trump.
Donalds represents the new wave of Black Republicanism that has emerged with the 45th president. The same year Donalds won his election ― and Trump lost his ― the former president made inroads with Black men, winning 19 percent of their vote, up from 13 percent in 2016. This followed a quiet campaign to woo constituents within the community, pitching messages to ignore the former president’s divisive racial rhetoric and focus on his policies: passage of criminal justice reform, the creation of opportunity zones in underserved or low-income communities and his support for HBCUs.
This “Black and Red” wave doesn’t seem to be dissolving anytime soon. A record-breaking number of Black Republicans are running in the 2022 congressional primaries, with many waving the MAGA flag to appeal to voters and court Trump’s endorsement.
Here’s a look into Donalds’ thinking on the hot-button issues hitting the midterms, and the state of Black participation within the Republican Party.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
THE RECAST: The House is planning on voting this week on abortion protections after the downfall of Roe v. Wade. How do you think this decision is going to impact the 2022 midterm elections?
REP. DONALDS: It’s not going to be a groundswell for [Democrats]. You gotta understand, they’ve failed on every other question facing the American people. So I don’t see the Dobbs decision being that galvanizing force. Second thing is, and I think it’s important for people to know, the Dobbs decision does not ban abortions. It actually regulates [abortion policy] to the state level for state legislatures and their governors to make a decision on how they’re going to regulate abortion policy in the states. That’s not a ban on abortions.
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THE RECAST: You voted against the gun safety package that Biden signed into law last month. You also told MSNBC that the federal government “does not have the ability to regulate intrastate transactions” when it comes to guns, while also arguing against background checks and federal red flag laws.
DONALDS: I think that the dogma around background checks has actually been wrong. We actually have a very robust background check system. The issue I have with the gun package is over red flag laws because I think red flag laws do present a Fifth Amendment violation of an individual’s constitutional rights. In our system of justice, you’re actually allowed to address your accusers before a finding is held against you. With red flag laws, your property can be taken from you, prior to you actually being able to address your accusers. This is basic Magna Carta stuff here.
Donalds speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. | Jason Andrew/The New York Times via AP, Pool
THE RECAST: How do feel about pregnant women traveling to other states where abortion laws are less restrictive? Do you think the federal government has a right to regulate that if it becomes an interstate issue?
DONALDS: As a nation, we’ve never governed the travel of people from one state to another. That’s just never been the business of the federal government. Despite my own personal views on abortion, that should not be the business of the federal government.
THE RECAST: So when a bill comes from Democrats that would enact protections for women traveling from state to state to have abortions … ?
DONALDS: We should not be voting for or against any of that stuff. Those are embedded bills and measures that we should never even consider here and here’s why I say that: A government that then says you can travel in-between states is also the government that says you can’t travel between states.
What we’re talking about now is not just about abortion. This is about the free movement of American citizens from state to state. … That’s never been contemplated in the history of the Republic. It should never be contemplated now. Americans are free to travel back and forth.
THE RECAST: That being said, are you voting yes or are you voting no?
DONALDS: Well, I’m voting no, because we shouldn’t be voting on it at all. That doesn’t mean that I want women to be prosecuted for crossing state lines. I think that political argument is a disgusting argument to make, because now you’re trying to politicize it for your own party’s gain.
[Editor’s note: After this interview, Donalds voted no on the House’s abortion bills.]
THE RECAST: Going back to the issue of guns ― for incidents like the racist shooting in Buffalo, what measures would you suggest that could prevent violent acts of white supremacy?
DONALDS: If you’re gonna talk about violent acts ― whether it’s white supremacy or anything else ― we do have an issue where there are these “red flags” that exist early on. Nobody does anything about them. The Buffalo shooter, that racist shooting, there were flags within his circle of his family and people in that community. Nothing was done. New York state has red flag laws. They had them before that shooting. Their system, their laws failed the people of Buffalo. What we need to be focusing on is mental health issues, making sure that young people are getting the help that they need.
I think that’s two of the key things that you would see that will help address that in respect to “white supremacy.” I think it’s disgusting, obviously; it has no place in society. But I think the thing that we got to talk about is: Are we talking about an ideology or are we talking about actual crime and criminality?
THE RECAST: Let’s talk about Jan. 6. So it’s winding down its public hearing phase and investigation. Do you think that’s gonna have any impact on the midterms?
DONALDS: Nope. I think most Americans have already formalized their opinion about Jan. 6. And so I think what the committee’s whole focus is on right now is ― just call it what it is ― this is the get-Trump committee. It’s really, in a lot of respects, the third impeachment of Donald Trump.
Donalds walks through the Canon Tunnel to the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2021 — the day the House voted in favor of Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. | Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
THE RECAST: He’s not in office anymore, so they can’t really do that.
DONALDS: If you listen to some of the comments of the members on the committee, what they’re talking about now is, ‘Well, what if he runs again?’ So they’re trying to literally lay up impeachment before we even get there.
Jan. 6 was awful. I was on the House floor. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t think I’ll ever see anything as bad as that in my lifetime. I hope to God I don’t. I think it was wrong.
I think that what’s happening now is that the people who love to hate Trump, this is more ammunition for them.
THE RECAST: Some of your colleagues are saying that they fear the former president’s controversies could cost the GOP the White House in 2024. There are some Senate Republicans that are telling him to hold off on his announcement until after the midterms. So doesn’t that give any indication that the January 6 committee is also affecting Republicans?
DONALDS: In my opinion, too many of my colleagues are too afraid of their own shadow. Even pre-Donald Trump, you’d have a lot of elected Republicans who are literally afraid of what the ink of the New York Times is going to say about them, as opposed to just doing the job that they were sent here to do.
We feel we’re going to have a really good night in November.
THE RECAST: So I saw that Trump endorsed you and your reelection bid. What’s his general standing in the Republican Party?
DONALDS: Strong, super strong.
THE RECAST: We saw that he made a lot of inroads with Black men in 2016 and 2020. Do you think it was Trump that helped attract Black men to the GOP?
DONALDS: Yeah, because no other Republican did it before him. You gotta understand with respect to Black men, Donald Trump is somebody who’s kind of been ― he’s not been in the culture, but he’s been around the culture for a while. Before he became president, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson used to have lunch with the man all the time.
If you were in New York politics, or in national politics, you met with Donald Trump. You asked him for money.
Donalds speaking at a rally celebrating achievements of the Trump administration, July 3, 2021 in Sarasota, Florida. | Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images
THE RECAST: What do you think Republicans can do to attract more Black voters?
DONALDS: Oh man, show up. The number one thing I tell a lot of Republicans is, ‘You have to go and spend time with people in the Black community.’ It’s not good enough just to ask for their vote in October. You’re asking somebody to get into a relationship with you that you just met a week ago. Please, that doesn’t work ― that never works.
Black voters are more open to hearing both sides of the political argument for the first time in a long time. And if Republicans are there to provide a policy option to be solutions-focused, then I think you’ll see a lot more Black voters become Republican voters.
THE RECAST: How do you think Black voters can reconcile with some of the rhetoric from the Republican Party? Rep. Elise Stefanik has been perpetuating “the great replacement” theory. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar have attended white supremacist events.
DONALDS: The first thing I will say is, you got to look at what the actual policies are. How is that affecting your life?
THE RECAST: If “the great replacement” theory is all about this idea that white people are getting replaced in America, and that people have to do everything to prevent it, and some Congress members are perpetuating that, you don’t think it’s going to influence policy?
DONALDS: Our party has always stood for strong borders. We’ve never stood for people just coming into the country illegally, just at will. We’ve never stood for that. Why would we stand for that now?
And about Paul and Marjorie going to that event? Nah, they should’ve never been there.
Donalds stands between Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who chanted “build the wall” at Biden’s first State of the Union address. | Win McNamee, Pool via AP
THE RECAST: A lot of Black Republicans are now running for election at historic levels. But a lot of them have lost the primaries. A lot of Republicans see Trump’s endorsement as the winning ticket. But do you think that applies to Black Republicans too?
DONALDS: I think it does. Everybody assumes endorsements are the mother’s milk. They’re not. Hard work is the mother’s milk.
[But] I think Donald Trump’s endorsement is the endorsement every Republican seeks. It’s actually the most important endorsement in the country ― both parties, it don’t matter.
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Happy Friyay, Recast fam! The news never seems to let up and we could all use a break. With that in mind, here are some weekend-to-dos…
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