Congressman Byron Donalds allegedly cornered mom Kelly Mason in a Florida grocery store and vowed to ‘crush’ or ‘finish’ her, she has claimed in a new lawsuit.
The Trump-backed frontrunner in the Republican race for governor is accused of threatening and assaulting Mason in a gourmet Naples store in August 2022. The civil assault lawsuitdoes not allege that he touched her in any way.
It comes just over a month before the Florida primary election and stems from an incident during a watch party for the local school board race, which Mason later won.
Video of the altercation shows a visibly angry Donalds confronting Mason, who was suing his wife following a dispute over a local school.
Donalds’ camp dismissed the story as ‘tabloid nonsense.’ Campaign spokesman Gates McGavick told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a baseless, politically motivated attack and shameful publicity stunt designed to damage Byron Donalds in the 2026 election.’
Mason, her husband, and her two children 13 and 12 at the time had left the upstairs dining area of Seed to Table to go downstairs to buy lunch meat. The store, which describes itself as ‘the happiest place in the universe’, is a MAGA hub that occasionally hosts political events.
That, she claims, is when one of Donalds’ aides asked her to talk with the congressman. She told her children to wait and walked over to where the Republican and his two staffers were standing with her husband.
Mason, the founder of Mason Classical Academy in Naples, Florida, alleges that Donalds cornered her and threatened to ‘crush’ her after she sued his wife, Erika Donalds. Video of the incident was captured by Mason’s daughter, shown above, who was 13 at the time of the alleged assault.
Woman Claims Donalds Tried to Pressure Her Over Lawsuit
‘End it Kelly,’ Donalds is seen shouting. ‘Kelly you want to end it? Stop the lawsuits.’
‘Tell the truth,’ Mason tells the Congressman in the video.
‘I’m going to go, but I’m tired of this,’ Donalds said. ‘Don’t do it in court, do it right now.’
Mason recalled the incident in an interview with the Daily Mail:’Byron becomes very belligerent, raising his voice, yelling at me; it was about dropping this lawsuit.’
‘He was threatening me, and then saying he’s going to crush me and come after me, and that I should drop the lawsuit with his wife, and he was very angry about the lawsuit against Erika,’ she continued in the interview.
At the time, Mason was litigating Erika Donalds over what she claims was a hostile takeover of a local charter school she founded in 2012, Mason Classical Academy.
After the school opened in 2014, the Congressman was added to the academy’s governing board; Erika was added to its advisory board. Mason voluntarily served on the school’s board from 2012 -2025, claiming to have not made any money from it.
Mason alleges in the interview that Donalds attempted to gain control of the school she founded, accusing them of wanting to expand the newly minted and successful charter school into a chain of schools to turn a profit.
‘They saw dollar signs, so they want to start a bunch of schools, and I said, ‘No, we’re not ready to start a bunch of schools,’ Mason claimed. ‘You want to start a school, go do that, but you’re not taking Mason’s success.’
Mason told the Daily Mail that she did not ask her daughter to film the interaction. ‘I had no idea until we got in the car that she filmed it. She just, I think, knew this is this isn’t good, this is bad.’
Mason served on the Collier County School Board from 2014 to 2018. She was elected again in November 2022 and her term ends later this year. She has already win another four-year term after running unopposed this cycle.
Mason previously filed a lawsuit against Erika Donalds and others for what she claims was a hostile takeover of her successful charter school. The mother claims the Donalds, motivated by making a profit, wanted to get control of MCA so they could open other locations. Donalds approached Mason in 2022 to express his outrage over the lawsuit regarding MCA.
New Lawsuit Revives Claims Against Byron Donalds
Specifically, the suit against Donalds and others laid out 18 counts, including conspiracy, libel, racketeering and more. The suit was settled in December 2024, Mason said without expanding.
Both Byron and Erika Donalds released statements in 2022 calling the allegations brought by Mason ‘frivolous.’
The new lawsuit filed this week against the Congressman alleges that: ‘This action arises from Defendant Byron Donalds’ intentional and unlawful assault against Plaintiff Kelly Mason inside a public grocery store in Collier County, Florida.
‘Rather than engaging in lawful discourse, Defendant (Donalds) deliberately confronted Plaintiff (Mason) regarding litigation involving his wife, aggressively cornered her while she was accompanied by her husband and two young children, berated and insulted her, and threatened that he could “crush” or “finish” her,’ the suit reads.
It also says the incident was ‘amplified’ after a senior advisor for Donalds ‘pursued [Mason]through the store whileyelling and creating a public disturbance.’
According to Mason’s lawsuit, one of Donalds’ aides followed her through the store trying to continue the confrontation.
After it had ended, others in the store asked if Mason was alright; she said she was shaking and fearful and for years those close to her have wondered if she would press charges.
‘For years, and even up to yesterday, I’ve had people say to me, ‘you really need to be careful, like you need to watch your back,’ like this has been said to me for years, you know, and now I’m a single parent,’ Mason told the Daily Mail.
‘Welcome to the happiest place in the universe,’ reads the store’s tagline, according to its site.
Byron and Erika Donalds have done a lot of work in education. Erika founded the edtech company OptimaEd, has served on school boards and leads education policy at the America First Policy Institute.
Lawsuit Casts Shadow Over Donalds Governor Bid
Although Donalds is not accused of physically assaulting Mason, the suit alleges that his’demeanor, physical positioning, and coordinated actions were calculated to place [Mason] in immediate fear of bodily harm and succeeded in doing exactly that.’
Mason’s then-husband was with her at the time but stayed quiet during the spat, the mother claims.
When pressed on whether the lawsuit coming out four years after the fact was a sign of this litigation being politically motivated, Mason admitted it will likely be perceived that way, but reiterated that she feels compelled to lift the lid on what she called ‘the real Byron Donalds.’
‘It’s scary to think about someone like him getting even more power, but there needs to be attention to who he really is, the real Byron Donalds,’ she said.
Mason’s lawyer, former Florida House of Representative member Anthony Sabatini, told the Daily Mail the statute of limitations for the alleged assault does not expire until August 2026, four years after the initial incident.
The allegation could hamper Donalds’ campaign for Florida governor – set for August 18th.
Donalds has consistently led in the polls, with a May survey from Change Research showing the Republican Congressman with a 39-point lead over James Fishback, an investment firm CEO.
Donald Trump endorsed Donalds in the race in May – securing the Congressman’s support among the President’s MAGA followers.
‘Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG, in 2016, 2020, and 2024,’ Trump posted on social media.
‘I know Byron well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a total winner! Byron has a great wife, Erika, and three beautiful sons. They are very proud of him!’
A representative for Erika Donalds was contacted.