Byron Donalds urges conservatives to ‘focus on the mission’ at AmericaFest after 2025 setbacks

Rep. Byron Donalds: Conservatives must ‘focus on the mission’ going into 2026 Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who is also running for governor in 2026, spoke to Fox News Digital about the future of the conservative movement, the state of his race, and how to bounce back from a bad electoral year for the GOP in 2025. Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds said Sunday the best response to recent electoral setbacks for conservatives is to put in the work and focus on instituting their vision for the country and delivering tangible results to the American people. "It’s about what you actually get done," said Donalds, who spoke earlier in the day about congressional gridlock and failure to get some tenets of conservatives’ agenda through an otherwise Republican-majority legislature. "And I think it’s part of the message here at Turning Point." "Look, we have disagreements, that's all well and good. We’ve got to be focused on the mission in front of us. We got to be focused on what's actually going to get voters to the polls and making sure that they turn out to vote. It's about having a set of positions, a philosophy, a vision for the future of this country. We have that vision. We got to continue to communicate it." VIVEK RAMASWAMY TURNS TO CONSERVATIVE YOUTH TO SHAPE THE MOVEMENT’S NEXT PHASE, ANALYZES 2026 RACES Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., speaks in Hollywood, Florida. (Al Diaz/Getty Images) Asked about electoral losses in recent months - including in Trump-friendly Miami; not far from Donalds’ district in Collier County - the congressman said it shows conservatives cannot "rest on their laurels" in that they successfully elected Trump and dispatched with the far-left’s governance. "And trust me, I'm happy he's president, but you got to keep at it. You’ve got to keep getting people to the polls. That's what it always comes down to," he said, adding that Democrats were motivated to turn out in races like Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Miami - and that the latter was notably a runoff in the middle of the holiday season. "We have to meet that motivation knowing that when our policies are in place, it's better for the American people. It's better for our nation. It's better for every state in America." DAVID MARCUS: ERIKA KIRK IS THE MOTHER SQUABBLING CONSERVATIVES NEED In Miami, Democrats won back the mayorship for the first time this century, while the prior Democratic mayor in 1998 - Xavier Suarez - himself later became a Republican and is the father of outgoing Republican Francis Suarez. Donalds suggested the city’s race offered lessons for contests nationwide. "Specific to Miami, there's been independent mayors and so on and so forth... One, you had a runoff election a couple weeks before Christmas. Those are very tough elections to turn people out. And this is why we have to be mission-minded on the nuts and bolts of what campaigns are," he said. "And they're always about getting people out to the polls....

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