Congressman Byron Donalds, the Trump-backed frontrunner in the Republican race for governor of Florida, has been accused in a new civil lawsuit of confronting and threatening a Florida mother, Kelly Mason, in a gourmet grocery store in Naples in August 2022. Mason alleges that Donalds cornered her and vowed to "crush" or "finish" her, though the suit does not claim he physically touched her. The case matters because it surfaces just over a month before the Florida primary election, potentially affecting a high-profile campaign.

The alleged incident took place at Seed to Table, a MAGA-friendly store that occasionally hosts political events, during a watch party for a local school board race that Mason went on to win. Mason, who was at the time suing Donalds' wife over a dispute concerning a local school, says one of the congressman's aides asked her to speak with him, and video reportedly shows a visibly angry Donalds confronting her. His campaign has dismissed the allegations as "tabloid nonsense" and a "baseless, politically motivated attack" intended to damage him ahead of the 2026 election.