Donalds touted his conservative bona fides during an interview Sunday on Fox News when host Shannon Bream asked about his chances of getting DeSantis’s endorsement.

“I’m a conservative before anything else. That’s how I came into politics, as a political activist in the tea party movement,” Donalds said. “I defended constitutional rights. I’ve been a stalwart for parental choice and options when it comes to education. In Congress, I’ve been, really, at the tip of the sphere of battling the Democrats and some of the radical media outfits on their own networks. So I think that my track record in the Republican conservative movement is something that lines up with Gov. DeSantis. He has his own decisions to make.”

BYRON DONALDS SPARS WITH CNN OVER TARIFFS AND BIDENFLATION

Donalds also responded to reporting from NBC News that included a DeSantis-aligned Republican operative casting doubt on his readiness for the fight for Florida governor, citing a previous $3 million campaign against him as proof that he can withstand the opposing candidates’ negative ads.

“Secondarily to any of my critics, let me just be very clear with you: I’m not going to be intimidated. I know about everything that happened when I was 18 and 20 years old in my past. I made a lot of mistakes, Shannon. I don’t shy away from them. They’re part of my story,” Donalds said. “If you look at who I am today, 46 years old, in Congress, having the support of Donald J. Trump, polling very well in the state of Florida, and my track record as a conservative in the movement. … My critics are probably more upset about the fact that I’m here. But I’m not going anywhere.”