{"id":406379,"date":"2026-09-21T17:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406379\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T17:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:40:10","slug":"while-in-tampa-byron-donalds-running-mate-dodges-questions-about-trump-deportations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406379\/","title":{"rendered":"While in Tampa, Byron Donalds’ running mate dodges questions about Trump, deportations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" Florida Republican Lt. Gov. nominee Bryan Avila speaking at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club on Sept. 18, 2025. Credit: Don Kruse \/Florida Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tampa Tiger Bay Club had hoped to hold a forum this month between the two major party candidates for governor, Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly. After the Donalds campaign cited a scheduling conflict, aides offered his running mate, former Miami-Dade County state Sen. Bryan Avila, to speak in his stead.<\/p>\n

That became a bit awkward on Friday when audience members asked Avila on several occasions whether he or Donalds disagreed at all with any of President Donald Trump\u2019s policies, such as his mass deportations of undocumented immigrants that fellow Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar declared in a new campaign ad on Thursday had \u201cgone too far.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking on behalf of Donalds, Avila seemed intent on not saying anything remotely controversial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to go back to the four years prior to the current administration,\u201d he said when asked about Salazar\u2019s ad by Alex Sink, elected chief financial officer in Florida 20 years ago but who narrowly lost a bid for governor sixteen years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had around 10 million illegal immigrants come into the country, some of them through the Southwest border, some of them came through Canada,\u201d Avila said<\/p>\n

He continued his response for a few more minutes, but never answered Sink\u2019s question, eliciting protests from a couple of members of the audience.<\/p>\n

On two other occasions Avila drew the same question: Were there any Trump policies that he or Donalds disagreed with?<\/p>\n

The first time Avila completely ignored the question, instead saying that the campaign was seeing \u201ctremendous energy\u201d and \u201cmomentum\u201d and disputing any polls that showed anything otherwise. The second time he said, \u201cWe are definitely in disagreement with how the Fed has been handling our interest rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lost in that response, however, is that the Federal Reserve Board is structured as an independency government agency, and that Trump himself\u00a0was angry this week<\/a> after the central bank increased interest rates by a quarter point, from 3.75% to 4%, the first such interest rate hike in three years.<\/p>\n

Donalds himself did appear to distance himself from the president earlier in the week when he said<\/a> \u201che had concerns\u201d regarding Trump\u2019s proposed $5,000 dividend checks, announced during the midterm Republican Convention last week in Dallas. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how you\u2019re going to be able to pay for that over the long term,\u201d he said in a Fox News interview.<\/p>\n

That response was much milder than the reaction from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who\u00a0said<\/a> last week, \u201cIf you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people\u2019s tax and return it to the people,\u201d adding, \u201cWhat I don\u2019t think you want to do is borrow another trillion-and-a-half dollars and then try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump endorsed Donalds for governor in February 2025, an endorsement the candidate has touted throughout his race to win the Republican primary election. Whether that Trump support will carry him to victory over Jolly in November is less certain.<\/p>\n

The Jolly campaign on Friday again said that Donalds had \u201cducked\u201d debating Jolly at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club in responding to a posting by Donalds on social media<\/a>\u00a0that he had accepted three gubernatorial debates to take place before the Nov. 3 election<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid Jolly has already accepted two debates, with Tampa Bay Tiger Bay and CBS Miami\u2019s Jim DeFede,\u201d said Mark Riddle, a senior adviser to the Jolly-Gwen Graham campaign. \u201cByron Donalds has ducked those two, plus countless debates with his fellow Republicans in the primary. It\u2019s pretty clear he\u2019s not acting in good faith. The two campaigns will work on a debate schedule that\u2019s best for Floridians. We look forward to the debates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donalds originally called for Jolly and<\/a> him<\/a>self to engage<\/a> in three gubernatorial debates in July. Jolly responded<\/a> at the time, \u201cGet through your primary and we\u2019ll talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

A member of the Tampa Tiger Bay Club\u00a0told the Phoenix<\/a> last week that in fact the Donalds campaign had originally agreed for Donalds to appear with Jolly, then called back to say they wanted him to appear separately.<\/p>\n

That board member said the Donalds campaign called back a third time to say he would not be able to attend and was offering Avila to appear instead. A spokesperson close to the Donalds campaign denied that sequence of events, saying they had never scheduled Donalds to appear at the event.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article appears in Sept. 17 \u2013 23, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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