Byron Donalds urges conservatives to ‘focus on the mission’ at AmericaFest after 2025 setbacks
Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds said Sunday the best response to recent electoral setbacks for conservatives is to put in the work and focus on instituting their vision for the country and delivering tangible results to the American people.
"It’s about what you actually get done," said Donalds, who spoke earlier in the day about congressional gridlock and failure to get some tenets of conservatives’ agenda through an otherwise Republican-majority legislature. "And I think it’s part of the message here at Turning Point."
"Look, we have disagreements, that's all well and good. We’ve got to be focused on the mission in front of us. We got to be focused on what's actually going to get voters to the polls and making sure that they turn out to vote. It's about having a set of positions, a philosophy, a vision for the future of this country. We have that vision. We got to continue to communicate it."
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Asked about electoral losses in recent months – including in Trump-friendly Miami; not far from Donalds’ district in Collier County – the congressman said it shows conservatives cannot "rest on their laurels" in that they successfully elected Trump and dispatched with the far-left’s governance.
"And trust me, I'm happy he's president, but you got to keep at it. You’ve got to keep getting people to the polls. That's what it always comes down to," he said, adding that Democrats were motivated to turn out in races like Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Miami – and that the latter was notably a runoff in the middle of the holiday season.
"We have to meet that motivation knowing that when our policies are in place, it's better for the American people. It's better for our nation. It's better for every state in America."
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In Miami, Democrats won back the mayorship for the first time this century, while the prior Democratic mayor in 1998 – Xavier Suarez – himself later became a Republican and is the father of outgoing Republican Francis Suarez.
Donalds suggested the city’s race offered lessons for contests nationwide.
"Specific to Miami, there's been independent mayors and so on and so forth… One, you had a runoff election a couple weeks before Christmas. Those are very tough elections to turn people out. And this is why we have to be mission-minded on the nuts and bolts of what campaigns are," he said.
"And they're always about getting people out to the polls. It's about messaging. It is about direct contact with the candidate. That's what we have to be focused on. As long as we're doing those things, we have the policies, and we have vision."
In that regard, Donalds said he was encouraged by the young people attending AmericaFest, which numbered in the thousands.
"I remember, you know, 15 years ago, we would never even thought you could do an event like this… where you had this many high schoolers coming out, college students coming out," he quipped.
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"And it's here, it's been built, and it's all really about the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. Now the responsibility is making sure we keep that movement going on."
In that regard, he criticized "pettiness and silly divisions" that have cropped up as of late, reiterating that conservatives must "focus on the mission."
"The mission is winning elections. You win elections in order to pass your agenda and institutionalize your agenda."
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While considered the front-runner in his own race – to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis – there have been suggestions that other big-name Florida Republicans could jump in the race and potentially force voters to pick a side in the primary.
Asked about the prospect, Donalds said his race is going "incredibly well" and that he has garnered the important support of Trump, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and several top congresspeople from the Sunshine State and beyond.
"We're very blessed to be in the position that I'm in right now… You know, primaries happen. We have that debate, we have that contrast. I firmly believe that when you stack up the records and when you stack up the policies, you stack the vision that I'm gonna be very successful," he said.
"And then the focus is gonna be about reuniting our party once the primaries are over to be focused on victory – that's the recipe for success."
Fox News Digital's Paul Mitchell Picasso contributed to this report.