Kelleigh Nelson
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence. Thomas Jefferson
The consequences of turning a blind eye to government corruption go far beyond simply letting some corrupt politicians and bureaucrats walk free. Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch
The American people deserve integrity in our institutions, not political corruption. Anna Paulina Luna
All the Florida gains will disappear under Byron Donalds. He will ravage and pillage Florida for his own good. He and his wife couldn’t even run a charter school. I cringe to think of the damage he will do to Florida. Sarah Taco
Miriam-Webster defines corruption as “dishonest or illegal behavior by powerful people (such as government officials or officers).”
Congressman Byron Donalds is a fast and smooth talker. In interviews, his excuse for his youthful arrests is that he was young and foolish, but that he has since redeemed himself from those reckless years.
A closer look at the candidate running in the Florida Gubernatorial primary, belies the redemption.
By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Byron Donalds, CC BY-SA 2.0
Donalds was elected to Congress in 2020. From Jan 2021 to June 2026, Donalds missed 163 of 2,834 roll call votes, and 158 floor votes, which is 5.8%, much worse than the median 2.1% of lifetime records of currently serving representatives. He has had only three bills filled that have been enacted, one related to nuclear energy, one related to spending efficiency and one on fisheries.
President Trump endorsed Donalds for Florida Governor. Byron is a fierce ally of the president, and the president rewards loyalty.
And the unelected powerhouse in this administration, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, is at the center of support for Byron Donalds. Evan Powers, another corrupt GOP crony, chairs the Republican Party of Florida. He has worked the phones with Wiles to keep Byron safely ahead of the pack. Powers clears the roads for whomever Susie Wiles wants up front. The full story of the graft, corruption and inter-workings of the GOP donor class is shocking.
Journalist Joan Swirsky’s article, “Still the Smartest Guy in the Room—Except…”, exposes the deep flaw in Trump’s lack of discernment regarding his endorsements and appointees. His choices haven’t been thoroughly vetted, and that is obvious regarding the Florida Congressman.
To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity. Congressman Byron Donalds is lacking in both. Yet, media claim he is leading the pack in Florida’s gubernatorial race with a 42% lead.
Other candidates for the gubernatorial race have complained that Donalds will not debate his fellow Republicans, probably for good reason. The dirt on Donalds and his top aide, Larry Wilcoxson, would be exposed by his opponents.
Investigative journalist, Steve Edward Farley, has done a deep dive on Donald’s top aide, Larry Wilcoxson and his felonious past. “By Wilcoxson’s own account, he was the second minor in Florida ever to face life in prison under the state’s new juvenile law of that era.” (Hat tip to Steve for use of his memes and articles.)
I’ve previously written about Byron Donalds, but it’s time to take a fresh look at his past, who is funding him and what he plans to do as Governor of the State of Florida.
- Donalds has repeatedly denied ever selling cannabis to youngsters in his youth. However, in a recent CBS Miami interview he admitted smoking and selling the drug. He was arrested in 1997 and charged, spent two years on probation and his youthful misadventures were expunged from the record, but he originally lied about it. Byron claimed the arrest was only for possession contradicting the legal documentation.
A few years later, Donalds pleaded no contest to 2nd degree felony larceny charges after defrauding a bank, but his explanations spark doubts. In 2016, Donalds said someone used his Debit Card to defraud a bank by passing bad checks. In 2024, more came to light that Donalds participated in a scheme to use his debit card to bounce $7,000 in bad checks. He pleaded no contest and his record was again expunged.
- As a Florida State Legislator, Donalds introduced legislation that could have released 9,000 prisoners back onto the streets of Florida by reducing the percentage of sentences required to be served from 85% to 65%.
- In 2012, Donalds marched in a Trayvon Martin protest, the precursor to the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement. Martin was killed after attacking George Zimmerman, a “Neighborhood Watch” participant. Pam Bondi railroaded Zimmerman and charged him with murder at the behest of Eric Holder when she knew Zimmerman’s actions were self-defense.
- Representative Donalds and his spouse, Erika, made 108 stock trades (valued between $108,000 and $1.6 million) between 2022 and 2023 without filing the required Periodic Transaction Reports (PTRs) within the 45-day window mandated by the STOCK Act, violating federal law. Those trades included companies who donated to his campaign or lobbied on bills he supported. Since his election to Congress, he has been a prolific stock trader with 367 stock trades valued at almost $11 million cumulatively.
His most recent financial discloser shows a range of $1.6 million to $7 million. He entered congress with $69,000.
Who exactly was Donalds serving while in Congress?
- Donalds has embraced building massive Artificial Intelligence Data Centers throughout Florida. He serves on the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence. The profit link between AI Data Centers (big energy users) and Big Utilities is for real. Publicly Traded Utilities and energy executives have contributed a combined $2 Million plus to Friends of Byron Donalds.
A Superpac headed up AI Data Center development titans and former Chuck Schumer consultants has pledged to spend $5 Million to aid Byron Donalds’ election efforts. Donalds is the chosen gubernatorial candidate of the AI sector, as evidenced by its $5 million bet on him via Leading the Future, a super PAC launched by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, 8VC founder Joe Lonsdale and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Interestingly, Donalds has invested heavily in AI related stocks, some having gains of 75%.
Journalist Janet Levy has exposed these Billion-Dollar Data Centers And The Growing Opposition.
AI Data Centers go hand and hand with Flock cameras. Check out DeFlock.org, put in your zip and see if your town or city has Flock spy cameras. You can also check to see if you’ve been Flocked at https://haveibeenflocked.com/.
Ask your county:
- Who is paying for those cameras?
- Is there a monthly subscription fee?
- Who pays for maintenance?
- Did you give permission for a camera to spy on you 24/7?
- What happened to our Fourth Amendment?
- Where are the warrants for spying on us?
Better yet, ask Byron Donalds who took $5 million from the tech companies for his PAC. Byron would have an AI Data Center and Flock cameras blanketing Florida.
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs or LPRs) are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car’s location, date, and time. They also capture your car’s make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points.
These cameras collect data on millions of vehicles regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime. These systems are marketed as indispensable tools to fight crime, but they ignore the powerful tools police already have to track criminals, such as cell phone location data, creating a loophole that doesn’t require a warrant.
- Byron Donalds sided with Kamala Harris, publicly opposing Gov. DeSantis’ attempt to remove woke perspective on slavery and racial politics in Florida’s African American History Curriculum.
- Donalds has been working with the Democrats to advance digital currency. At the Collier County Republican Men’s breakfast in July of 2022, Byron Donalds said, “The Democrats have promised it will never be used for tracking law abiding citizens.” (Is it naiveté or duplicity?)
Donalds is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the House Committee on Financial Services, and has put forward a self-regulating industry policy for cryptocurrency. He has stated, “I’m excited to see how much support we can get for a self-regulating enterprise for digital assets.”
- Donalds’ Top Aide
Larry Wilcoxson allegedly takes home a six-figure salary. He is Donalds top aide, his best friend and a felon.
Wilcoxson has been arrested multiple times including for child molestation.
In 2014, Wilcoxon was arrested for grand theft auto, a third-degree felony. In 2006, he was charged with three counts of child molestation of a 13-year-old girl in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2008, Wilcoxson was arrested for charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with a weapon. He had previously been fired for allegedly exposing himself to a female school custodian at Indianapolis’ Donnan Middle School while he was a substitute teacher. In 2006, Collier County records indicate Wilcoxson was the defendant in several traffic cases and a paternity suit. (His full record available here.)
The grassroots leaders of Florida’s 19th District, call Wilcoxson, “Byron’s thug.”
Larry Wilcoxson, left, poses with President Donald Trump and Rep. Byron Donalds. / Facebook
- Donalds’ Attempted Hostile Takeover of a Charter School
Byron Donalds’ wife, Erika, tried to do a hostile takeover of Mason Classical Academy. There is much bitterness in the community because they wanted to run the charter school, Mason Classical Academy, which has one of the top ratings in the country. They did not conceive of the charter school, but had, at one time, been on the board. Kelly Lichter and her husband Nick were the founders.
As a state Representative from 2016 to 2020, Byron tried to write bills to make it easier for his wife to accomplish the takeover.
In 2017, Erika Donalds founded Optima, a company that has provided management support for several classical charter schools in Florida.
Investigative journalist, Steve E. Farley tells a different story. He writes, “What Byron and Erika Donalds built in Southwest Florida is not a school choice success story. It is a shell company dressed in a classical curriculum, a patriot aesthetic, and a VR headset. It is a machine that converts public dollars, your tax dollars, appropriated by a Congress Byron sits on, into private income for his wife’s interconnected web of limited liability companies. None of those companies are required to disclose what they pay her. None have been fully reported on his House financial disclosures. One of them is a Delaware anonymous shell that did not appear on those disclosures at all until three years in and only after investigative reporters began asking questions.
“The students are real. Their test scores are real. And the scores are damning.”
Screengrab via X
At a Republican Executive Committee meeting several years ago, Donalds and his top staff member, Larry Wilcoxson, tried to start a public argument and disagreement with Kelly Lichter. They were backing her leftist opponent. Tensions boiled to such a point that Florida Politics reported it. A video lasting two minutes and 19 seconds mostly shows Donalds, with staffers Jesse Purdon and Larry Wilcoxson, speaking inaudibly with Lichter in a corner of the store.
A legal battle ensued over the allegations that Donalds and his allies were scheming to take over the school. The case included Rico allegations, civil rights violations and defamation claims. Had this case gone to discovery and depositions, it probably would have stained Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign.
In December of 2024, the embarrassing details of this case were scuttled. Donalds personally coughed up $47K and his wife and Optima Foundation paid another $47K. The settlement included a “non-disparagement” clause, and Optima agreed not to interfere with the school again.
- Kelly Lichter Mason’s 2026 Lawsuit
A civil lawsuit filed in July 2026 alleges that 2026 Republican gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds threatened a Collier County school board member during a 2022 grocery store dispute, where his senior adviser, Larry Wilcoxson, also reportedly created a public disturbance. This incident ties back to an older political feud involving local figures Kelly Lichter and her husband.
“Mason alleges in her lawsuit that Byron Donalds “berated and insulted her and insisted that he could ‘crush’ or ‘finish’ her” during that confrontation. She also alleges that Donalds’ senior adviser, Larry Wilcoxson, ‘pursued Plaintiff through the store while yelling and creating a public disturbance.’
“The lawsuit says that as a direct result of the confrontation, Mason suffered ‘emotional distress; mental anguish; humiliation; anxiety; fear for her own safety and the safety of her children; other damages to be proven at trial.’
“The case has been filed in Collier County Circuit Court. Mason is represented by Lake County Commissioner and former Republican state House member Anthony Sabatini. She is asking for a trial by jury and compensatory damages, punitive damages, legal costs, prejudgment and post-judgement interest, and ‘other relief that this Court deems just and proper.’”
- Byron’s Donors
Once again Steve Edward Farley exposes the Byron Donalds’ funders in his article, “The 81 Million Dollar Coronation: How the GOP Donor Class Bought Byron Donalds and Billed It to the American Middle Class.” “Yass, Uihlein, Wiles, Power, Helmich, Erika, and the sheriff prison cartel built a closed loop that extracts from the American middle and launders it through a MAGA puppet.”
Farley writes, “Byron Donalds is a MAGA candidate. He is a GOP shill. He is not an America First Nationalist. He has never been one. A real nationalist does not take 7.5 million dollars from the largest single shareholder of a Chinese app (Miami New Times, 2026a). A real nationalist does not let his wife skim 35 million dollars off a school voucher program built to enrich a billionaire class (Florida Bulldog, 2025). A real nationalist does not run interference for a private prison company that booked an 800 percent jump in net income off the backs of working-class American kids (American Prospect, 2026).
“The people who do that are the GOP donor class and the MAGA brand managers who launder for them. They wrap themselves in the same flag we carry, then sell it back to us at a markup.”
Farley’s piece names the names. “All of them. Dollar amounts, with dates, with the receipts already on file at the Federal Election Commission and the Florida Division of Elections. Then it does what the consultant class hates: connects them. When you finish reading you will know exactly who owns Byron Donalds, exactly what they bought, and exactly which part of your life they are going to bill it to.”
Byron’s Florida gubernatorial fundraising has brought in $103 million, and he has $70 million left in his coffers after numerous campaign ads.
Conclusion
Donalds’ political career is marred with allegations of a troubled past.
What he plans for the State of Florida, will not be good for their residents.
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