Who is Byron Don­alds? Meet one of the eight top names on Trump’s VP short list

Rep. Byron Don­alds (R‑FL) has emerged as a promi­nent con­tender to join for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump on the Repub­li­can pres­i­den­tial line­up this Novem­ber.
Don­alds has served as the U.S. rep­re­sen­ta­tive for Florida’s 19th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict since 2021.

Rep. Byron Don­alds, R‑Fla., accom­pa­nied by oth­er mem­bers of con­gress, speaks to the media after they toured the George Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents encamp­ment as they protest over the Israel-Hamas war on Wednes­day, May 1, 2024, in Wash­ing­ton. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Mag­a­na)

Age
Don­alds was born on Octo­ber 28, 1978. He is 45 years old.
Career
In 2016, he was elect­ed to serve in the Flori­da House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, hold­ing office for two terms rep­re­sent­ing the state’s 80th dis­trict before he joined the U.S. House.
Dur­ing his time in the Flori­da state body, he also served as the chair­man of the Pre K‑12 Qual­i­ty Sub­com­mit­tee and the Insur­ance and Bank­ing Sub­com­mit­tee.
Don­alds grad­u­at­ed from Flori­da State Uni­ver­si­ty with a Bach­e­lor of Arts degree in finance and mar­ket­ing. 
Pri­or to his polit­i­cal career, he worked as a cred­it ana­lyst at TIB Bank in 2003 and was lat­er pro­mot­ed to cred­it man­ag­er. In 2007, he joined CMG Sure­ty LLC as a port­fo­lio man­ag­er. 
In 2012, he unsuc­cess­ful­ly ran for the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. In 2015, he took a posi­tion at Wells Far­go as a finan­cial advis­er. 
Don­alds is also part of the Finan­cial Ser­vices Com­mit­tee and Com­mit­tee on Over­sight and Account­abil­i­ty.
Fam­i­ly
Don­alds grew up in Brook­lyn, New York. As one of three chil­dren, he was raised by his sin­gle moth­er.
He lives in Naples, Flori­da, with his wife, Eri­ka, and their three sons: Damon, Darin, and Mason. 
Reli­gion
Don­alds is a Chris­t­ian and a staunch oppo­nent of abor­tion …