Rift with Byron Donalds distracts from DeSantis campaign reboot, GOP operatives say

An intraparty feud over Florida’s approach to African American history could be taking focus away from the desperately needed campaign reboot being undertaken by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Republican strategists said.

What started as a battle with Vice President Kamala Harris has now blossomed into DeSantis’s 2024 campaign openly attacking Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a rising star in the GOP and Florida’s sole black congressional Republican.

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Donalds took mild issue with Florida’s education standards that said enslaved African Americans benefited from the skills learned through slavery. “The new African-American standards in FL are good, robust, & accurate. That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted,” Donalds wrote on Wednesday. “That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this.”

DeSantis officials quickly struck back on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Supposed conservatives in the federal government are pushing the same false narrative that originated from the @WhiteHouse. Florida isn’t going to hide the truth for political convenience. Maybe the congressman shouldn’t swing for the liberal media fences like @VP,” wrote the DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern.

Campaign rapid response director Christina Pushaw chimed in, asking, “Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?” in a reference to recent criticisms from the vice president. Harris slammed the Florida Board of Education’s unanimous decision to revise the state’s black history curriculum last week, calling it “an attempt to gaslight us.”

Donalds hit back against the attacks and reiterated his endorsement for former President Donald Trump in the GOP presidential primary race. “What’s crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement,” said Donalds. “Anyone who can’t accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points. Just another reason why l’m proud to have endorsed President Donald J. Trump!”

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told voters in Iowa there is “no silver lining in slavery.”

Republican experts cautioned against DeSantis continuing his ongoing spat with Donalds, arguing it’s a distraction from defeating Trump. “I think it is foolish for the DeSantis campaign to get into this argument,” Republican pollster Adam Geller told the Washington Examiner. “Congressman Donalds was opposed to the one sentence that anyone with common sense would be offended and appalled by. And that is the sentence that somehow tries to say that slaves somehow gained skills as a result of slavery. That is an appalling statement. It is a nauseating statement. And it’s political malpractice to defend the statement.”

Yet on Thursday, DeSantis himself waded into the battle.

During his Chariton, Iowa, stop on Thursday, DeSantis subtly jabbed Donalds for aligning with Harris. “At the end of the day, you gotta choose: Are you gonna side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets? Are you going to side with the state of Florida? And I think it’s very clear these guys did a good job on those standards,” DeSantis told reporters. “It wasn’t anything that was politically motivated.”

Officials with Trump’s presidential campaign also waded into the online battle and defended Donalds against the opprobrium, as did other prominent Republican lawmakers.

“Congressman Byron Donalds is a conservative hero. The Republican Party is lucky to have him as a leader, and President Trump is honored to have his endorsement,” said Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign. “For the OFFICIAL office of the Governor, and (what’s left of) Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign to attempt to smear Congressman Donalds like this is a disgrace – and it’s indicative of why DeSantis has plummeted faster than any presidential candidate in history.”

DeSantis’s campaign hit a rough patch in recent weeks, including sliding poll numbers, less-than-stellar fundraising numbers, and letting go of 38 staffers on Tuesday, which campaign manager Generra Peck said would propel the governor in defeating President Joe Biden.

DeSantis began his presidential campaign as the Trump-alternative candidate who could hypothetically govern without the drama. However, as his poll numbers have decreased in recent months, donors have anonymously speculated he may not have the political chops to defeat Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. Now it appears DeSantis will refocus his messaging on the campaign trail to economic issues, starting with an economic policy unveiling during a New Hampshire campaign stop next week.

But the feud with Donalds is likely taking up oxygen from the DeSantis reset and his two-day Iowa tour which launched on Thursday, as other Republicans weigh in with subtle digs against the Florida governor. Former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake called Donalds “a good man and a patriot” before critiquing DeSantis’s team. “These attacks against him are complete nonsense,” she continued.

Brian Seitchik, a national Republican strategist, said that DeSantis needed to refocus on defeating Trump as opposed to fighting with a non-2024 presidential candidate. “If Ron DeSantis is fighting with anyone other than Donald Trump, he’s losing,” Seitchik said. “Him squabbling with a congressman from his home state is certainly a boon for Congressman Donalds, but it does nothing to help DeSantis make up ground against Donald Trump.”

DeSantis’s battle against Trump has been a complicated tightrope, given the strong support Trump continues to have among GOP primary voters. In the past, DeSantis has often attempted to criticize the former president without incurring the wrath of Trump’s base. Yet it hasn’t helped him during the primary race or among national and state polling.

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Seitchik stressed that the governor, or any 2024 rival, must defeat Trump in Iowa or New Hampshire to block Trump’s current dominance in the primary. “I think if Trump wins Iowa and New Hampshire, I think it’s over. Somebody has to beat him in one of those two states,” he said. “And If Trump were to lose one of those states, the national numbers will move very quickly.”

The late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) stunned President George W. Bush’s campaign during the 2000 New Hampshire primary, as did former President Barack Obama when he defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Iowa caucuses. Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination and the presidency later that year, proof that Trump is not guaranteed to win just because his poll numbers are far above his opponents. Given that the Iowa caucuses aren’t until January of next year and that Trump faces multiple federal indictments, much could change in less than five months.

“If the votes were today Trump wins in a landslide but there is a lot of time still on the clock,” said Seitchik.

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