Byron Donalds: Speaker battle resulted in something ‘transformational and sound’

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on Sunday called the House Speaker election “transformational and sound,” saying it will help “the House of Representatives once again become the people’s House.”

“I’m frankly just happy that it’s all over with, and that we got something transformational and sound for the American people,” Donalds said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.

Donalds was one of up to 20 Republican holdouts voting against Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) after the Florida Republican initially voted in McCarthy’s favor. But after the third round of voting, he switched to support Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) before GOP members unexpectedly nominated Donalds for the leadership post and he began voting for himself despite saying he didn’t want the job.

“Yes, early on, I gave Kevin the benefit of the doubt. But it came pretty quickly clear to me that we were getting nowhere. And so, at that point, it was saying, OK, how long is this going to go? What’s this going to play out like? And so it was really about trying to make sure that we can get people to the table in order to construct a framework that everybody in our conference can get behind,” Donalds said.

“We were able to land this plane, and now we are going to move on to the business of the American people,” he added.

Donalds said he does not anticipate “defections” when it comes to a vote on the House rules package expected on Monday.

“I think everybody is going to kind of take the weekend, day-and-a-half that we have, and then look at these rules with a sound mind, and then we’re going to go ahead and get them through,” Donalds said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.