The mega-Maga contender in deep-red Florida who doesn’t want to talk about Trump
Özet haber: Byron Donalds removed mentions of the president from his website and has barely uttered his name – will his ploy prove successful in a tight governor’s race?
Byron Donalds removed mentions of the president from his website and has barely uttered his name – will his ploy prove successful in a tight governor’s race?
It took Byron Donalds, addressing a wildly supportive crowd at a rally in Florida’s bluest county, some time to list those he blamed for any “affordability” issues they might be experiencing.
Joe Biden, and the radical policies of the Democrats, were at fault, the Republican nominee for Florida governor insisted in his stump speech at Broward county’s Green Glades West ranch, even though neither has wielded power in Washington for almost two years.
Donalds also pointed a finger at other traditional betes noires of the modern Republican movement, New York’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and the despised Dr Anthony Fauci.
Another to receive a lengthy verbal lashing was David Jolly, his opponent in a closely watched race that will help gauge the strength of a Democratic resurgence in a state that has veered reliably red in recent years.
Yet one name – Donald Trump – remained conspicuously unspoken, as did any mention of the war in Iran, soaring gas prices, unaffordable healthcare premiums, or any number of issues that have caused the president’s approval rating to drop to new lows.
How to handle Trump has become something of a conundrum for Donalds, an ultra-Maga, three-term Republican congressman, as he navigates a race that remains much closer than he would like it to be.
Such is the president’s unpopularity that the Donalds campaign made the decision last month to purge almost every mention of Trump from his campaign website, including the removal of “enact the Trump agenda” as his top priority as governor.
That, and his notable reluctance to invoke his name, or policies, on the campaign trail, appeared to be working, until Trump announced that he would be coming to Fort Myers on Friday, a little more than a week from election day, on the latest stop of the president’s late red-state tour in support of vulnerable candidates.
Some prominent Republicans seeking election have chosen to be elsewhere when Trump comes to town. Perhaps in an effort not to be seen too closely aligned, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, discovered an unavoidable commitment as Trump visited San Antonio this month.
“Of course I’m going to be there. What kind of question is that?” he snapped at a reporter after last Friday’s joint rally with the Republican senator Ashley Moody, who is also on the 3 November ballot.
Another journalist asked Donalds if his silence on Trump was a deliberate uncoupling from some of the president’s more unpopular policies, such as his immigration crackdown that is polling poorly with Florida’s large Latino and Hispanic voting blocs.
“This is what I’m talking about. You guys are so caught up in, ‘Do you agree with this, do you agree with that?’” he said, not answering the question. “I was giving a speech about my campaign for governor because I’m running for governor.”
