Despite heavily campaigning for Donald Trump during the 2024 election cycle, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., has not yet been named to the president-elect’s upcoming administration — this to the curiosity of many. In fact, no Black Republican has been tapped among the more than two dozen nominations and appointments Trump has made over the past week.
During an appearance on CNN with Laura Coates, Congressman Donalds said he was “not surprised” about not being selected for a role in the Trump-Vance administration and vociferously defended President-elect Trump against criticisms from Democrats like Rev. Al Sharpton.
“That does not mean I’m not going to do other things in the future,” added Donalds, who is rumored to be considering a bid for Florida governor in 2026 or a run for U.S. Senate if Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio, is confirmed.
Donalds dismissed criticisms about Trump not appointing any Black people to his cabinet or administration, suggesting that Democrats are simply upset they lost the 2024 election. He argued, “They’re still licking their wounds about the fact that this did not work out the way they thought it was going to do.”
The 46-year-old Florida lawmaker said Trump’s incoming administration is not about race or ethnicity but rather about “people who are going to implement his agenda.” By contrast, he argued, the Biden-Harris administration had a “piece of every identity” but didn’t “get the job done.”
“Whether you are Black or Hispanic, if the border is un-secure … does that help everyday people’s lives? No, it does not,” said Donalds. He continued, “What Donald Trump’s election is about is bringing competency and reality back to D.C. in the White House, making sure that the job gets done on behalf of the American people, regardless of their race, regardless of their religion or regardless of their creed.”
Democratic strategist Joel Payne told theGrio that, by not handpicking a single Black person as of yet to his administration, the Trump transition team is sending a clear message about “their assessment who they believe are the best and the brightest.” He added, “It’s certainly noticeable.”
“They’re giving away cabinet secretaries like consolation prizes,” said Reecie Colbert, a political commentator and host of Sirius XM’s “The Reecie Colbert Show.” She told theGrio, “It shows how little value these folks carry. They’re the mules of the Republican Party, not who [Republicans] consider to be leaders.”
Instead, Colbert told theGrio, Trump “played in Black people’s faces” to garner votes and had no intention to court Black Americans as a long-term goal. “It was never a courtship. It was a dissuasion campaign against [Black men],” she added. “There’s nothing that Black men are getting from a prospective Trump administration, aside from things that are detrimental to the well-being of Black men and the Black community.”
Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC, told theGrio that having no Black leader named to the Trump cabinet as of yet also signals that the harms to Black communities laid out in the pro-Trump policy manifesto Project 2025 could be on the horizon.
“This execution of making sure that Black people are not at the top levers of power in this country is … representative of that,” he argued. “It actually just shows what the agenda is about and who the agenda is targeting.” However, regardless of whether Trump selects a Black Republican leader as part of his administration, Brown emphasized, “That doesn’t mean that that’s also safe for our community.”
He explained, “They would still have to agree to serve in a government that is dismantling the Department of Education, that is dismantling DEI programs, which actually open opportunities for Black people to access economic and professional opportunities, to access education, etc.”
Brown continued, “There are two sides to this coin where, yes, there’s no diversity of representation, and that is by design.” He added, “But also the people that look like us, who would be considered for those roles, would not have been helping us. They would have been helping Donald Trump.”