\n\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, one of the most prominent Republicans running for Florida governor, made a campaign stop Saturday in Central Florida, where he spoke with voters about key state and national issues.Donalds, who represents southwest Florida in Congress, told supporters in DeLand that issues such as transit infrastructure, insurance and taxes are top concerns for the region. He said local governments should look for ways to cut spending before raising taxes.\u201cI think before local government raises taxes, they need to take a look at their entire budget sheet and what can they cut and push off because the citizens only have so much money,\u201d Donalds said.Donalds is seeking to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, who isn’t able to run again because of term limits. The congressman, a rising figure in national conservative politics, told voters that his campaign is focused on decision-making and accountability.\u201cI think when you elect somebody, what they\u2019re really electing is their decision-making process,\u201d Donalds said.Among the voters attending the event was Fred Thompson, who said he supports Donalds\u2019 message.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about what\u2019s going on in the state as well as in the country, and we feel like Mr. Donalds is going to best represent us in the coming years,\u201d Thompson said.Some voters said they were still undecided. Independent voter Melissa Robertucci said she came to learn more about Donalds before making up her mind.\u201cI wanted to hear what he had to say. I haven\u2019t made a decision. You don\u2019t really know who\u2019s running for governor,\u201d she said.Donalds also addressed the ongoing federal government shutdown, saying he was frustrated by the stalemate in Washington. \u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating because in the House we have voted to keep the government open,\u201d he said.Donalds echoed his party\u2019s position that federal funding should not cover health care for noncitizens \u2014 a stance criticized by Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida. \u201cIt\u2019s about the healthcare of our people,\u201d Frost said. \u201cWorking-class people are paying more than they ever have for everything \u2014 housing, groceries, gas. To add insult to injury, we are going to charge them double, if not 300% for health care, so billionaires can get a tax cut.\u201dDonalds said he hopes the shutdown will end soon and that, if elected governor, he can help continue Republican momentum in Florida. \u201cI think most voters, their biggest thing overall is, are we going to keep going,\u201d he said.Voters at the DeLand event said they are eager to see how the rest of the gubernatorial field shapes up in the coming months.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tDELAND, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, one of the most prominent Republicans running for Florida governor, made a campaign stop Saturday in Central Florida, where he spoke with voters about key state and national issues.<\/p>\n
Donalds, who represents southwest Florida in Congress, told supporters in DeLand that issues such as transit infrastructure, insurance and taxes are top concerns for the region. He said local governments should look for ways to cut spending before raising taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think before local government raises taxes, they need to take a look at their entire budget sheet and what can they cut and push off because the citizens only have so much money,\u201d Donalds said.<\/p>\n
Donalds is seeking to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, who isn’t able to run again because of term limits. The congressman, a rising figure in national conservative politics, told voters that his campaign is focused on decision-making and accountability.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when you elect somebody, what they\u2019re really electing is their decision-making process,\u201d Donalds said.<\/p>\n
Among the voters attending the event was Fred Thompson, who said he supports Donalds\u2019 message.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about what\u2019s going on in the state as well as in the country, and we feel like Mr. Donalds is going to best represent us in the coming years,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n
Some voters said they were still undecided. <\/p>\n
Independent voter Melissa Robertucci said she came to learn more about Donalds before making up her mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to hear what he had to say. I haven\u2019t made a decision. You don\u2019t really know who\u2019s running for governor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Donalds also addressed the ongoing federal government shutdown, saying he was frustrated by the stalemate in Washington. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating because in the House we have voted to keep the government open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Donalds echoed his party\u2019s position that federal funding should not cover health care for noncitizens \u2014 a stance criticized by Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the healthcare of our people,\u201d Frost said. \u201cWorking-class people are paying more than they ever have for everything \u2014 housing, groceries, gas. To add insult to injury, we are going to charge them double, if not 300% for health care, so billionaires can get a tax cut.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donalds said he hopes the shutdown will end soon and that, if elected governor, he can help continue Republican momentum in Florida. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think most voters, their biggest thing overall is, are we going to keep going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Voters at the DeLand event said they are eager to see how the rest of the gubernatorial field shapes up in the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, one of the most prominent Republicans running for Florida governor, made a campaign stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7886,147,2651,16662,28,3291,30,29,16668,16660,7931,16667,16665,16666,992,99,412,16664,16669,16661,16663],"class_list":{"0":"post-20945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-campaign","9":"tag-central-florida","10":"tag-deland","11":"tag-donalds","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-governor","14":"tag-florida-headlines","15":"tag-florida-news","16":"tag-fred-thompson","17":"tag-governors-race","18":"tag-healthcare","19":"tag-key-state","20":"tag-local-government","21":"tag-national-issue","22":"tag-people","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-ron-desantis","25":"tag-taxis","26":"tag-top-concern","27":"tag-u-s-rep-byron-donalds","28":"tag-voter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}