Byron Donalds says GOP needs to take responsibility for the economy to regain trust: Full interview

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Republican Congressman Byron Donald's made history this week, winning his race to become Florida's first black governor. And Governor-elect Byron Donald joins me now. Welcome back to Meet the Press and congratulations on your win. It's going to be back with you, Kristen. Thanks for having me. Well, thank you so much for being here, Mr. Governor-elect. So in addition to the history that you have made, 2027 will be the first time in U.S. history where there will be multiple, five in all, black governors serving at the same time. What are you feeling in this moment? [00:00:41] Byron Donald: It's really a matter of personal pride. I think it's a matter of pride for black Americans all through the country. I think it's also something to demonstrate that whether you're talking about here in Florida, just to the north of us of Georgia, I believe it's out in Nevada or even in Wisconsin, you have a situation where Americans from all walks of life decided that this is going to be their decision. I think it demonstrates again in our country that despite all the vitriol around race in America and in politics, that people just want to have leadership that's going to get the job done on behalf of their communities, on behalf of their state. So for myself personally, it's a high honor. But for the people of Florida, it demonstrates that they don't really care about skin color. They care about meritocracy. They care about getting the job done. The people of our state voted out and clear. They want to make sure that Florida continues to be a common sense conservative state. And my job as governor is to make sure that is a reality. [00:01:35] Speaker 1: All right. Well, let's talk about the path forward for Republicans. After this week's losses by Republicans, Vice President J.D. Vance came out with a post that's getting a lot of attention. I'm going to read part of it. He says, the reason we lost is the war. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. But everyone knows why we lost. Do you agree with Vice President J.D. Vance? [00:02:05] Byron Donald: I think it's a little bit broader than that, Christian. At the end of it all, it's about gas and groceries. You know, as I traveled the state of Florida, all 67 counties went from everywhere between Mariana and Panama City and Pensacola down to Palm Beach, Broward County, Miami-Dade County. People in our state were thinking about the cost of food, the cost of gas, the cost of insurance. They just want to have lower prices. They want to make sure that their kids and themselves have an ability to build a great life. And I think that's really at its core what this is really all about. It could be Iran. I mean, we'll take time to dissect all of that. But at the end of the day, people want to know that they can afford their lives. And I think that the mission for Republicans is to get back focused on just on the cost of living for the people of this country. That's what we are going to do as Florida's next governor. We're going to be laser focused on the accountability issues that really were the number one issue in Florida's [00:02:56] Speaker 1: election. And it was not even close. Well, and you are arguing it's much broader. Let me ask you, though, the vice president saying that it is the fault of the war, can he realistically distance himself from the Iran war, from these losses, given the fact that he was put in charge of trying to [00:03:15] Byron Donald: negotiate an end to the war? Honestly, Kristen, that's a question for the vice president. And that's more about presidential politics. As governor-elect of Florida, my mission is to make sure that we lower insurance costs in our state. That's what we're going to be focused on, about lowering the cost of building housing in our state. We're going to lead an all-of-government effort around permitting reform. That way you can lower the government side of construction costs, thereby lowering the cost of construction housing for the people of our states. Those are the things that I get to be focused on. I'll leave the presidential politics in the hands of President Trump and Vice President Vance. But I think at the end of the day, when I talk to voters, and I talk to a lot of voters these last two years, my campaign, we knocked over two million doors in my campaign for governor. And the first, second, and third was affordability, cost of living. People want to make sure that that is allowed to continue in our country. They want to be able to put food on the table and a roof over [00:04:09] Speaker 1: their heads. Well, on that point, I want to play a little bit of what the current governor of Florida had to say about this week's losses. Take a listen. I've criticized some of our Republican congressmen [00:04:20] Speaker 3: and Senate candidates running around the country trying to blame the high gas prices on Biden. Gas was $3 a gallon a year and a half ago, and now it's $4, and it's $4 because of the Iraq war. So when you gaslight people, they don't trust you on anything else. [00:04:39] Speaker 1: Did Republicans gaslight the American people on the economy? [00:04:45] Byron Donald: I actually don't know what the governor is talking about when it comes to that one. I didn't really hear any Republicans trying to blame gas prices today on what the Biden team was doing. I think if you're talking about the cost of living overall, the fact that prices have not really come down in our country, yes, the major lying share of that is because of the 9% year-over-year inflation from the Biden years. But gasoline prices have gone up recently. Yes, it's because of what's going on in the Strait of Hormuz. I actually just read an article from the Wall Street Journal about this. The insurance costs of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have gone up substantially, even though there's more oil going through the strait today than there was pre-war. And so I think that, you know, the number one thing we want for our state and for our country is we do want those gas prices coming down. That conflict's coming to an end. We'll see those gas prices come down very, very rapidly. But I didn't really hear Republicans blaming gas prices on Joe Biden. I [00:05:36] Speaker 1: didn't hear that. And we did, we should note, have a number of Republicans on this program who pointed the finger at Joe Biden. But I think the question becomes, Governor, do you believe Republicans, the president, should take responsibility for the economy in order to win back the trust with voters that was clearly lost in this election cycle? [00:05:59] Byron Donald: Oh, I do, absolutely. And I think, look, you look at the election results, they speak for themselves. Like I told you, Kristen, it's gas and groceries. That was on the mind of everybody. I couldn't help but miss, but I did listen to what Senator Sanders was talking about, about their proposal for Medicare for all. This is going to be the next battle line in American politics. It's going to be over health care. And let's be very clear. If you want to talk about the rising costs in our country, health care is centered to all of it. And we are living under Democrat health care policy here in the United States of America. It's been 15 years since Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was passed. We were promised that premiums were going to go down. We were promised you could keep your doctor, you could keep your plan. None of that occurred in health care in our country the last 15 years. And instead of fixing the Affordable Care Act, having market-centered reforms that can stabilize health care costs, lower health care costs in this country, you have Bernie and the Democrats now want government takeover of all health care in our country. We know that would be a failure. Care would be rationed to the people of this country. They would not be able to have the free-flowing access that they currently have today. The prices would get significantly higher. Of course, nobody would have to pay that directly, but it would all be paid for by future debt on the backs of our children. That's the wrong way to go. If Republicans, in my view, want to be serious about anything, we have to start having this real political conversation and economic conversation around health care to stabilize health care costs, lower health care costs. And there are major Republican policies that can actually stabilize and lower health care costs in this country, provide more access to the people of our country, and that will help make lives better. [00:07:35] Speaker 1: Governor-elect Donald, quickly before I let you go, President Trump announced on Friday he's promoting Stephen Miller as White House Chief of Staff. Miller is, of course, the architect of the White House's immigration policies. If you look at the exit polls, nearly six in ten respondents said the policy has gone too far. Is elevating Miller the right move after these midterm elections, Mr. Governor-elect? [00:08:03] Byron Donald: Well, I think what the president is looking for with Stephen Miller is somebody who's going to be supportive of him and supportive of his agenda. That's what his chief of staff is supposed to do. I think if you're going to talk about enforcement measures, that's something where the president and his team are going to take a look at the entire playbook and then make the necessary adjustments. Let's also be clear, Kristen, that securing our border is still popular with the American people. We saw that in the polling. Immigration deportations and immigration controls are still popular largely with the American people. We saw that in the polling as well. So I think even though the Democrats had a big night on Tuesday, that does not mean that the country is now all supportive of all the Democrat policies. That's simply not true at all. The American people, in my view, spoke loud and clear. They want lower prices. They want to stabilize cost of living standards so they can afford their lives. They also still want the border security measures and the common sense immigration policies from the president of the United States because they do remember the Biden years and that cannot return to this country. [00:09:00] Speaker 1: Very quickly, final question. Are you still supporting Vice President J.D. Vance for the next president, as you've said in the past? [00:09:11] Byron Donald: Listen, Kristen, I will leave 28 to 28. Right now, I'm focusing on my job, making sure that we build a government here in the great state of Florida to transition from Governor DeSantis to make sure that Florida remains the best state in all of America. [00:09:24] Speaker 1: Are you open to DeSantis? Are you open to Governor DeSantis? In the past, you've said you'd lean towards Governor DeSantis to make sure that you're supporting Vance. [00:09:32] Byron Donald: I mean, Kristen, the 28, it's still 2026. We haven't even gone across the new year. And like I said, we have a government to prepare for. That's my focus. We'll see what happens down the line with the nomination for my party. Only thing I know is it's going to be a robust conversation, a robust debate. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. [00:09:51] Speaker 1: All right. Governor-elect Donalds, thank you so very much for joining us this morning. Really appreciate it. [00:09:59] Byron Donald: Thank you.