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Donalds faces GOP primary challenge

Charlotte County resident, former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee Jim Huff, challenges incumbent

By Nathan Mayberg - Editor | Aug 18, 2022

Congressman Byron Donalds (R-Naples)

This is not a normal political season. So it goes that in perhaps the most highly-anticipated mid-term elections in at least a decade, Naples Congressman Byron Donalds (R-19) will face a primary challenge Aug. 23 in his first term in office from a political newcomer in Port Charlotte Republican Jim Huff.

Donalds, who captured more than 60% of the vote in 2020 against Fort Myers Democrat Cindy Banyai, will seek to repel Huff in the primary this Tuesday, Aug. 23 in the newly redrawn congressional district that includes Lee County and Collier County.

With different approaches, Donalds and Huff have more in common than they do apart including the fact that both come from the north country and are relatively young for political candidates. Huff, 38, is a native of rural northern New Jersey, while Donalds, 43, grew up in Brooklyn.

Byron Donalds

Donalds is seeking the Republican Party nomination to face Banyai in a rematch of the 2020 elections.

Jim Huff is challenging Congressman Byron Donalds in a Republican primary Aug. 23

While in office Donalds earned a reputation early on as an ally of former President Donald Trump, voting against the certification of the 2020 election. He issued support shortly after the 2020 election for a lawsuit by the state of Texas challenging the election results of several states, which was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court. On Jan. 6, Donalds voted against the certification of election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Donalds said he still stands by those votes. Donalds also voted against the impeachment of Trump over his alleged incitement of the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

“It was surreal,” Donalds said of the Jan. 6 riots. “It was a really bad day for the country, really unfathomable,” he said. “Nobody has the ability to storm a federal building.”

Though troubled by the events of that day, Donalds didn’t blame Trump and said he doesn’t think it changed the country. “I think everybody was saddened by what they saw,” he said. “The politics has gotten worse. The majority party has continued to focus on Jan. 6.”

Donalds said he stands by his votes against the certification of the election, citing Pennsylvania’s counting of some early voting ballots received after the expiration date, though courts rejected all challenges to the election.

Donalds called the raid last week on Trump’s club and estate at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, an “unprecedented invasion” against the former president and “an assault on our constitutional republic and reeks of political retribution.”

Donalds said the top issue locally is water quality.

“Water quality is going to still be our number one issue in Southwest Florida. It’s important to our economy and the environment,” Donalds said. Donalds said the administration of President Joe Biden hasn’t done enough on water projects, though he noted the C-43 reservoir has been completed and the C-44 reservoir basin is nearing completion.

While Donalds said he would like the government to do more on water quality projects, he also believes there is too much spending in Washington D.C.

Donalds called the Inflation Reduction Act “a complete lie,” he said. “Inflation is annihilating family businesses,” Donalds said.

“We’ve spent a couple trillion dollars that are not going to help businesses in Southwest Florida, that are not going to help housing costs,” he said.

Donalds said the cost of housing has risen so rapidly in recent years because “everybody wants to move here,” he said. Donalds said that although he thinks prices for homes have started to stabilize, pressures on home prices will continue as “there is only so much land,” he said.

Donalds criticized President Joe Biden for not doing more on immigration and the border with Mexico. “The president not going to the border is obscene. I’ve been to the border four times,” he said.

“Our border is a complete mess,” he said. Donalds said securing the border was necessary to combat fentanyl overdoses and to secure the country.

Donalds said he is pro-life and supports the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion by allowing states to ban abortion.

Donalds has also opposed gun-control measures, saying he thinks measures proposed by Democrats wouldn’t have stopped most of the mass shootings. “The Buffalo shooter was an obvious red flag. New York has red flag laws. As Americans, we still have to protect the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Their rights shall not be infringed upon because we had terrible shootings,” Donalds said.

Jim Huff

Huff was working in Jacksonville for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when he decided to run and leave his job behind in April. He sold his home and moved to Port Charlotte, which is outside the congressional district which stretches from Naples in Collier County and covers Lee County.

Raised in Sussex County, New Jersey, Huff attended the University of Florida before going to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Baltimore for nine years. He then went back to school to Florida Gulf Coast University to obtain a civil engineering degree. For the past five years, he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville.

Huff had to step away from his job with the federal government in order to run for office. Huff said he is fortunate in that he can go back to his job in case he doesn’t win the election. “I already have people calling me (for work),” he said.

Huff’s work in the Jacksonville district extended to water management issues that affect Lee County include the management of releases from Lake Okeechobee. He is familiar with the C-43 and C-44 reservoir projects, as well as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir Project, a 6,500 acre wetland and stormwater treatment area expected to be ready in 2023. Huff said C-44, located in Hendry County, is in the final stages of testing. Huff said the projects will be crucial in protecting the Caloosahatchee River from a surge of nutrients from Lake Okeechobee.

Huff said he would like to see more work done for the treatment of water along the Caloosahatchee. “The discharges have really caused some issues along the Caloosahatchee,” he said. “We have algae in the canals at Cape Coral.” Old septic tanks are leaking, also causing pollution, he said.

Huff said more treatment centers along the Caloosahatchee River would help protect the water from pollutants and elevated oxygen levels. Huff said he believes Donalds should have done more to push for funding for such a project. Huff said he would work with Florida Gulf Coast University to help monitor the Caloosahatchee River.

Huff’s platform includes term limits for congressmen, and limiting gifts and contributions to elected representatives. He believes the cost of medicine is too high.

Huff said he would like to see Donalds working in Congress to bring back infrastructure funding to the district, rather than personally attacking representatives on television.

As for the votes by Donalds against certifying the presidential election, Huff said “I don’t have whatever facts he may have been presented. That election is history.”

Rather than focusing on fraud accusations, Huff said he would focus on voter integrity.

“President Biden is our president and will be until the next election,” he said.

On abortion, Huff said “I don’t believe it should be a federal law.”

On gun control, Huff said he supports the Second Amendment and also backs more mental health checks for gun owners. According to his campaign website, he is a concealed carry permit holder.

Huff criticized Donalds for voting against the Respect for Marriage Act. “I support LGBT marriage,” Huff said.

On the rising cost of housing, Huff said he supports developing affordable housing for low-income workers though he believes “we need to focus on conservation.”

Huff said service workers have been hit the hardest by the rising cost of rents. “Inflation has really taken hold.”