Brooklyn-born Rep. Byron Donalds ready to serve should Trump tap him as vice president
Two native sons of New York who grew up just 10 miles apart in the city’s outer boroughs could make history as the Big Apple’s first-ever presidential pairing.
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds is ready — and more than willing — to serve should former President Trump tap him as a vice presidential candidate, he told The Post.
“I want to do everything to help win back the White House,” Donalds, 45, told The Post from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland this week. “It’s about putting in the policies that work for the country and work for everybody.”
Others the former president has said he’s added to his VP short list include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Donalds said there have been no formal discussions between his camp and Team Trump — and he dismissed concerns about the 91 felony charges across four separate state and federal indictments the ex-president is facing.
“These charges are BS, total and complete. And everybody knows this,” Donalds said.
Donalds, who became a rising GOP star during Trump’s presidency, was routinely mobbed by fans during his appearance at CPAC Thursday — a notable jolt of energy for the otherwise sleepy gathering that day.
The four-term congressman has become a regular presence on television, which has likely endeared him to Trump — a well-known cable news addict.
The two talk frequently and relations are warm, Donalds said.
While Trump grew up with a silver spoon in Jamaica Estates, Queens, Donalds was born poor in Crown Heights — just a 30-minute drive away on the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
A generation younger than Trump, Donalds came of age in the bad old days of New York City. He grew up on Park Place between Troy and Schenectady Ave and frequently witnessed urban blight.
“I was in the train station one time in 6th grade, I was going through the turnstile and this group of kids were coming the other way and they were just on me, surrounded me, took my wallet and bus pass,” he said, recalling one incident near the Borough Hall subway stop.
“When I was 16 I was held up at gunpoint from the corner of my house,” he added.
After graduating from Nazareth Regional Catholic High School in East Flatbush in 1996, Donalds went on to a five-year business master’s degree program at Florida A&M University.
He pursued a career in banking. A planned return to New York was scuttled by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and he ultimately settled down in Naples, Fla. with his wife Erika Donalds. They have three children.
The Florida connection — Trump’s primary residence is Palm Beach — could trigger constitutional headwinds if Donald’s is tapped as the No. 2.
The 12th Amendment to the US Constitution forbids two residents of the same state from running together on the same presidential ticket. The issue spooked former vice president Dick Cheney enough in 2000 to move his residence from Texas back to his former home state of Wyoming. A federal court ultimately had to confirm Cheney’s eligibility to serve.
Assuming Trump doesn’t change residency, Donalds would have to leave Florida and forfeit his House seat to run — a concern he brushed off.
“We can cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said, adding that he looked forward to the chance of taking on Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don’t think she’s found her voice yet,” he said. “I don’t really know what to expect from her. I don’t think anybody does.”
While he’s never looked back, Donalds has kept up with the Big Apple’s woes. He expressed sympathy for Mayor Adams’s struggle to contain city fallout from the migrant crisis.
“I met Eric Adams, seems like a nice enough guy. But his party his hurting him. First of all the immigration policies of his party and tearing the city apart. This push for equity above all else doesn’t allow people to thrive and prosper,” he said.
Donalds was less charitable toward former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“That guy was the worst. He was the worst mayor our city has ever had,” he said. “He destroyed New York.”
When asked to say something nice about President Biden, Donalds paused.
“He loves his son,” the congressman finally said.
