Keeping Florida Free, Affordable and Conservative

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. Well, with us today is Congressman Byron Donalds, and he’s from the great state of Florida, and he knows how to say, come on down. And he’s running for governor, and he’s been endorsed by President Trump. And so far, President Trump has a batting average of about 98% or 99% of people he picks. And, well, Congressman

0:22 Donalds is Tell us about Florida. Tell us about all the things you’re getting done there. And Governor DeSantis did a great job. And you’re supposed to carry on.

0:40 Speaker 2 Well, first, it’s good to be with you. You know, we are a little under 70 days until the November election. And we’re right in the heart of the general election. This election is going to be about the people of Florida continuing to choose common-sense conservative policy, which has become the envy of every other state in America. You are correct.

1:00 President Trump, his batting average, I mean, he’s hitting 990. I mean, that’s definitely Hall of Fame numbers, no doubt about that. And also, Governor DeSantis has done a great job leading Florida these last eight years. So my job is to actually maintain a lot of the wins and successes of Governor DeSantis, but also address the affordability issues

1:22 in Florida around insurance, property taxes, building, housing. We have roads that we want to build to actually make sure that the quality of life continues to be great in the state of Florida. But it’s also about protecting the Florida dream, which so many people have come to our state for. because we’re the best state in America, and

1:40 we do not want to see our state be turned over to the hands of the radical Democrats and the Democrat socialists of America.

1:47 Speaker 1 And you’ve got so many people moving down to Florida from the New York area, from the Illinois area. Even California is coming to you. You know, how is Florida doing with people that are– Well, they may be Democratic that are moving to Florida. Have they learned a lesson in New York?

2:12 Speaker 2 The people who are coming to Florida, they left their other state for a reason. They’re leaving New York because they can’t deal with Kathy Hochul and Mom Donnie. They’ve left Illinois because Pritzker and the mayor down there in Chicago have already wrecked the place. They’re leaving California because it’s the worst state in America, even though it’s a

2:30 very beautiful state with great weather. Their government sucks. And people are sick of it and they’re tired of it. And they come to Florida because they know they can just raise their families, have their businesses, and be left alone by their government while making sure that we keep people safe because law and order is the standard in Florida.

2:49 And that’s why they keep coming. So what we’ve seen is that whether it was COVID-19 or even people coming to Florida still, what we have seen is they just want to have a part of the Florida dream. They want a part of that Florida way of life. and they’re registering as Republicans or they’re registering as independents, but

3:07 they want to make sure that we don’t have crazy Democrat policy that really destroyed the states that they came from.

3:15 Speaker 1 And right now you’re the congressman. What area are you in the congressman in, just in case the people in New York or people in the rest of the country don’t know which area you’re in right now?

3:26 Speaker 2 I represent southwest Florida, so that’s Marco Island, Naples, and Fort Myers. and Cape Coral. That’s the part of Florida I represent. It’s really been an honor to be in Congress, and now it’s the job to make sure you lead Florida into the future and do all the things that we talked about. But we also want to make sure

3:43 that our kids in high school, that they have a real shot at getting a high-paying job coming out of high school. That’s why we want to have our kids do internships and apprenticeships if they’re not going to go to college.

3:55 Speaker 1 You know, I give some of the numbers sometimes to people, and they don’t understand it. New York City has 8.5 million people, and the budget is $ 127 billion. The whole state of Florida has 24 million people, and your budget is like $ 115 billion. How do you do it?

4:21 Speaker 2 It’s called common sense. We live within our means in Florida. We don’t spend money unnecessarily. We make sure we address the needs of people. We’re not reckless like the Democrats, but Democrats say they’re going to invest in all these things, but it seems like the things that they invest in don’t get better. They just spend more money. They throw

4:39 money around. We don’t do that in the great state of Florida. We’ve just been a very consistent state based upon simple, common-sense principles, limited government, low taxes, law and order, and safety, and making sure kids are getting a great education and are not being indoctrinated. They’re being educated. And that’s how we do it.

4:58 Speaker 1 And, Congressman, I understand you picked your lieutenant governor candidate this week. And can you tell us a little bit about him?

5:07 Speaker 2 Well, listen, Brian Avila is a great man. I served with him when I was in the Florida House. He is somebody who is a father. He is a husband. He actually married his high school sweetheart, Cindy. They have two young kids. He’s also an academic dean at one of the colleges in the state of Florida. And on

5:28 top of all that, he’s a captain in the Florida National Guard. He’s somebody that has commanded soldiers during the COVID epidemic and the COVID outbreak in Florida. He has commanded soldiers during hurricane recovery. And he’s a conservative, somebody who’s fought for limited government and low taxes every single day.

5:47 He’s been in office. And then on top of all of that, He’s the son of Cuban exiles. His parents fled Cuba to make sure that Brian and his family could have freedom and live in freedom and liberty here in Florida. So he’s somebody who knows socialism when he sees it.

6:06 Speaker 1 So he knows socialism and he knows communism.

6:11 Speaker 2 Yes. That’s right. That’s right. He does. And so he doesn’t want any of that in Florida.

6:17 Speaker 1 Well, Congressman Byron Donalds, we had eight years of great leadership with Governor DeSantis. We need eight more years of great leadership. And thank you for calling in this Sunday morning. And let’s keep the great state of Florida great.

6:35 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Listen, thanks for giving me an opportunity to speak with you, and I’ll talk to you soon. Thank you.