Byron Donalds LGBTQ Rights Florida

Byron Donalds Kept Calling a Transgender Woman 'Sir' After She Corrected Him. 'I'm Listening to the Voice, and I Hear a Sir.'

On his bus tour, a transgender woman told Byron Donalds 'there is no trans agenda' and asked how he'd protect children while endorsed by someone covering up the Epstein files. She told him, 'I am not a sir, I am a ma'am.' He called her 'sir' twice more.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 25, 2026

Byron Donalds Kept Calling a Transgender Woman 'Sir' After She Corrected Him. 'I'm Listening to the Voice, and I Hear a Sir.' — Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images, via The Advocate

Byron Donalds, the Republican running for governor of Florida, was on a statewide bus tour, days before the election, when a voter stopped him with a question. She was a transgender woman, and she wanted to talk about a recent anti-trans political mailer.

According to The Advocate, which wrote up a video of the exchange posted to Facebook by political content creator Jessica Kelly, she told him:

"Something that really upset me as a member of the LGBTQ community: there is no trans agenda. I know. I'm trans. I don't have any agenda, but I do see an agenda with the Epstein files. I see a massive cover-up. How do you plan on protecting children if you are being endorsed by somebody that's covering up the Epstein files?"

Donalds started to answer. She stopped him.

"I am not a sir, I am a ma'am," she said.

"I hear a sir"

Donalds said he had voted to release the Epstein files. Then, after bystanders objected to what he'd called her, he explained himself:

"I'm listening to the voice, and I hear a sir. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, 'cause you don't see the rest of me," she answered.

He went back to her question, and called her "sir" again. "Sir, we are talking about a trans agenda?"

"Sir, again," she said.

"Yes," Donalds answered.

She swore at him and walked away. The video's caption was "Byron Disrespects a Trans Veteran Woman." The Advocate says it asked Donalds' campaign for comment.

She was asking about the anti-trans attacks in his race

This was not a random encounter. The woman came to talk about anti-trans messaging in Florida's governor's race, and much of it has come from Donalds' side.

In August, a pro-Donalds PAC ran an ad claiming his Democratic opponent, David Jolly, backs "gender changing surgeries on kids." PolitiFact rated it False. The clip had been cut in half: Jolly was retelling a grandfather's story about a suicidal trans teenager. Donalds' spokesperson stood by the ad anyway.
Before the primary, Donalds claimed the American Medical Association had "finally realized that this is insanity" about care for trans kids. The AMA said that isn't what it said.
He supported efforts to move Naples Pride's drag show indoors last year, The Advocate reports.

So a transgender voter walked up to tell him the "trans agenda" doesn't exist. His answer was to tell her what he heard in her voice, and to keep calling her "sir" after she asked him not to.

What we know

When a transgender woman on Byron Donalds' bus tour told him "I am not a sir, I am a ma'am," he answered "I'm listening to the voice, and I hear a sir," then called her "sir" again. She had come to challenge an anti-trans mailer in a race where a pro-Donalds PAC already ran an ad PolitiFact rated False for cutting his opponent's words in half.