Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Monday that national Democrats miscalculated when they "threw" Kamala Harris at the top of the presidential ticket and expected voters — most notably Black voters — to simply "fall in line."
Donalds joined "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE" to discuss a recent poll showing Harris with just 78% support among Black voters, the lowest by far from 2020 (90%) and 2016 (92%). Conversely, the poll showed Republicans with 15% support from Black voters, the most in that same span.
"I think that number is going up, primarily because she's never done anything," Donalds said of Black support for Republicans.
"She's just simply a Black face that they threw out at the top of the Democrat Party, expecting everybody just to fall in line," Donalds told Higbie. "But Black voters, like every other voter in our country, they are fed up. They're tired of the same old politics. They're tired of the machine politics. They're tired of the media just covering up for Democrat officials as if they could do no wrong."
Donalds said the same can be said for female voters, too.
"Kamala Harris is running around talking about how she would protect women, but she and her administration have been destroying Title IX, which protects women's sports," he said. "They're making women not be able to compete on a level playing field against other women."
Donalds said it's emblematic of why Harris' campaign is stalling out in battleground Pennsylvania, responding to a report that Harris is blaming her staff for performing poorly in the Keystone State.
"[S]he's not doing well because she doesn't resonate. She doesn't connect. Her message is stale. It's the same old Democrat talking points. These Republicans are going to do all these things," Donalds said. "Then you have the situation where when you're on the ground talking with voters, whether they're white or Black, in the city of Philadelphia, what are they talking about? Immigration is out of control. Prices are way too high. What's going to change in their communities?
"Those are the conversations that I had when I was on the ground in Philadelphia. So campaigning for Donald Trump is really easy, especially when you know he's out there working. When he's out there working, you've got to get out there and work," he added.
"Kamala Harris, what is she doing? One event a day; she might start her day at 2 in the afternoon? … I could tell a candidate, really, by how they campaign. A campaign that works hard is a campaign that works hard when they get elected," Donalds said. "She's not working hard as a candidate; she wouldn't work hard as a president, period."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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