Votehub<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe townhall was hosted by Florida A&M\u2019s Student Government Association in collaboration with the Florida A&M office of student activities and RISE Tallahassee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The event\u2019s structure came after months of planning and shifting strategy. Kennedy Williams, the current Student Body President of Florida A&M, originally envisioned a head-to-head debate on campus between Democratic candidate David Jolly and Republican Byron Donalds. However, when scheduling and format negotiations led organizers to pivot, the plan evolved into hosting two separate campus town halls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the townhall, Williams emphasized that despite the format change, the underlying intention of bringing candidates to campus remained the same; to increase civic engagement among the student body and ensure that student voices at Florida\u2019s only public HBCU were heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFAMU has always been a bastion for higher learning, but beyond our\u00a0classrooms, we are an incubator for changemakers and activists,\u201d Williams said. \u201cRattlers have always and will always step up to claim our rightful seat at the table.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Donalds attempted to tackle affordability, which has become a salient issue for Floridians as they grapple with ever increasing costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Donalds\u00a0pointed to insurance reform as a potential solution,\u00a0stating\u00a0that he believed lowering insurance costs could lower housing\u00a0costs for residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also presented his past work in the financial industry as a reason that voters should trust him on matters of the economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy career was banking, insurance and financial services \u2026\u00a0The next governor has to\u00a0[know] how a company\u2019s balance sheet operates, how their income statements operate, how their cash flow statements operate,\u201d Donalds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tensions began to flare when\u00a0Donalds addressed immigration enforcement and the recently signed 287(g) agreement, which deputizes campus police\u00a0at FAMU to carry out immigration activities in collaboration with ICE. This has raised major concern among students regarding potential profiling and unlawful detainment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re an American, legal resident and somebody who\u2019s in our country lawfully, you have nothing to fear from federal law,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cWe have a responsibility to comply with federal law, and we will comply with federal law in the state of Florida\u2026There has to be a standard in immigration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Within the crowd,\u00a0boos broke out before\u00a0Jayla Jones, a fourth-year Political Science student, expressed her belief that the Congressman was being untruthful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnswer the question! Are you going to protect students?\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou\u2019re lying!\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
The audience broke out into audible clapping and cheering after Jones stood up and directly addressed Donalds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shortly thereafter, Jones was confronted by event staff and eventually removed from the event by FAMU Police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following the question posed to Donalds on immigration, the student question portion of the event began. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Students asked Donalds questions on a variety of topics important to them, from concerns about data centers to questions\u00a0about\u00a0his stances on gun laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Iana Bridges, a Pre-Law Criminal Justice student, asked Donalds specifically about his connection to the Black community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMany students here feel there is a massive disconnect between the lived experiences of everyday Black Americans and a Black Republican lawmaker who champions policies that roll back civil rights protections,\u201d Bridges said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you argue that you understand or care about the struggles of Black Americans when your political alignment and personal circle are rooted in places that historically exclude them?\u201d Bridges\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Donalds pushed back, citing the Republican Party\u2019s history. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy party has always been the party that fought for civil rights\u00a0\u2026 The 1964 Civil Rights Act was filibustered\u00a0by Democrat Senators,\u201d Donalds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shortly after the student questions\u00a0began, a fire alarm began to rattle Lee Hall. After minutes of uncomfortable murmurs, attendees were instructed to leave the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n
FAMU PD officers confirmed that there had not been a fire and that the alarm had likely been pulled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over forty minutes later the building was cleared, and Donalds returned to give his pitch to a noticeably smaller audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Republican I\u2019m not telling you, I\u2019m asking you to vote for me because I\u2019m talking about policy,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cI would ask Black people in Florida, Black people in America have they [the Democratic Party] delivered?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previously, Jolly said he won\u2019t debate Donalds, accusing the Republican of trying to dictate the terms of the forums and acting in bad faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear, given the tenor of the current campaign environment including Byron\u2019s repeated lies and bad faith, that debates this cycle would not create constructive, honest conversation and would only stoke division, animosity and bad will. That\u2019s not something I wish to do for our state,\u201d Jolly said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both candidates accepted different appearances at different times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second installment of the series featuring Jolly is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. in Lee Hall, where FAMU students will once again have the opportunity to directly question candidate platform positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Byron Donalds speaks at Florida A&M Townhall (Jorde Jones) Florida A&M\u00a0students packed into Lee Hall on Tuesday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-416695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416695","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=416695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_0198-1-1024x575.jpg\")
<\/p>\n