California Ignored Science While Florida Protected Schools From Lockdowns

When the pandemic struck in March of 2020, I was living right here in Los Angeles. The scene I witnessed fundamentally altered my trajectory. It became obvious almost instantly that California officials ignored the science and chased politics instead. Every mandate, every shutdown, and every decision filtered through a single lens: how to use this crisis to attack Trump and Republicans. Californians paid for that calculation with their wallets and their children's education. Businesses closed. Kids lost years of school. Families watched everything they built turn to dust. I saw it happen in real time.

Florida took a different path entirely. Governor Ron DeSantis stood firm while Dr. Anthony Fauci pushed for school closures, vaccine mandates, and business lockdowns. DeSantis said no. He signed executive orders and legislation suspending every local COVID mandate on Florida's citizens and businesses. He codified in state law the presumption that schools stay open for in-person instruction. The pressure on him was relentless, coming from the left and parts of the right alike. He did not fold.

That leadership made my decision. In May 2020, just two months into the LA shutdown, I packed up and moved to Miami. I wasn't alone. Ken Griffin moved Citadel, his multibillion-dollar firm, from Chicago to Miami. Major CEOs followed suit. Florida became the destination for serious people who were done waiting for their blue state to show any gravitas at all.

I didn't agree with every choice Governor DeSantis made. But his tenure speaks for itself. In 2020, registered Democrats still outnumbered Republicans in Florida. Today, Republicans hold a registration advantage of more than 1.5 million voters, and they have expanded their share in all 67 counties. That did not happen by accident. That happened because of leadership.

Now DeSantis is term-limited, which raises a question that matters enormously, and not just to Floridians. Who carries this forward? I have known Congressman Byron Donalds for several years. I have watched him up close. He is the person Florida needs right now.

I say that as the founder of the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety. I built this organization after my innocent teenage brother Christian was murdered in Chicago on June 24, 2022. Public safety isn't an abstraction to me. It is the reason I do this work. And it is the clearest place where Byron has distinguished himself.

While the defund the police movement swept the country, Byron did not equivocate. Carlos Arguelles, president of the Hispanic Police Officers Association of Miami-Dade, put it plainly when endorsing him: "During COVID, when the 'defund the police' movement was gaining momentum, Congressman Donalds stood up for law enforcement and doubled down on putting more boots on the ground. He has never been afraid to stand his ground."

The Florida Police Chiefs Association endorsed him too. They represent more than 1,300 law enforcement executives along with a majority of Florida's sheriffs. His Zero Tolerance public safety agenda would mandate full cooperation between state and local agencies and federal immigration authorities at ICE. It would ban sanctuary policies statewide without exception.

That last part is personal for me. Chicago has been a sanctuary city for over 40 years. Nearly 7,000 people have been murdered there in the last decade. I spent four years asking Chicago's politicians to take that seriously. They did not listen. Byron promises Florida will never become that kind of place, and I believe him.

He is also serious about the cost that hits Florida families hardest. Property insurance is the biggest affordability pressure in this state. Byron says he believes he can bring rates down by as much as 20% by reforming Florida's property insurance regulatory framework. Byron grew up in Brooklyn.

Byron Donalds came to Florida for college and walked across the stage at Florida State University before building an entire career in banking and finance throughout Southwest Florida. He started out with local conservative activism, moved on to serve in the Florida House of Representatives, and then entered Congress to represent the 19th District starting in 2021.

President Trump was clear about his support: "Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida." Speaker Mike Johnson added that he is "a principled conservative leader who Floridians can trust as their next governor."

Yet the most telling endorsement arrived this week from an unlikely source. Stephen A. Smith, a lifelong Democrat, made his case on SiriusXM: "I ain't no Republican. But if anybody could make me one, it would be him. He's the real deal. Make no mistake about it. I've seen him battling with Democrats. He ain't backing up. He knows his stuff."

When a lifelong Democrat says a Republican is the real deal, people listen. Byron Donalds has the chance to bring in voters like Stephen A. Smith who have traditionally backed Democrats but now worry their party has drifted too far left. Look at the rhetoric coming from groups like the Democratic Socialists of America calling for abolishing prisons and police. That is crazy talk moving away from traditional Democrats fast.

What I can tell you about Byron based on knowing him personally is something no endorsement can capture. He is a man of strong morals and genuine character. I have seen it firsthand. When he speaks, he means what he says. In a political environment full of people who say whatever the moment requires, that trait is rarer than it should be.

Florida stands as ground zero for conservative values in America. The next governor either protects what has been built here or lets it erode. Byron Donalds will protect it.

The primary takes place on Tuesday, August 18. If you are a Florida voter, go vote.