Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush accused Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds of “perpetuating white supremacy” after he was nominated to challenge Speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.
Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Lauren Boebert of Colorado nominated Donalds to challenge McCarthy on the fourth and fifth ballots. Donalds garnered 20 votes from the anti-McCarthy representatives in the Republican conference, which prevented McCarthy from receiving the 218 votes needed to be handed the gavel.
“FWIW, @ByronDonalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He is a prop. Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy,” Bush wrote in a Wednesday tweet. “His name being in the mix is not progress—it’s pathetic.”
FWIW, @ByronDonalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He is a prop. Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy.
His name being in the mix is not progress—it’s pathetic.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) January 4, 2023
Donalds switched his support for McCarthy on the third ballot to elect the next Speaker of the House. He voted for himself on the fourth and fifth ballots, where he earned support from 20 of his colleagues. (RELATED: ‘These Seem Like Small Things’: Brian Kilmeade Presses Rep. Byron Donalds On GOP Failing To Rally Behind Speaker)
McCarthy earned 203 votes on the first two ballots, 202 on the third and 201 on the fourth and fifth. He has held onto his hopes that he can earn the required minimum needed to step up as speaker.
Bush has notably called previous incidents she disagrees with as “white supremacy.” She called the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse “white supremacy in action” in a November 19, 2021, tweet and labeled former President Donald Trump a “white supremacist president who incited a white supremacist insurrection.”