Byron Donalds, seeking a House GOP leadership post, wants to decentralize power away from party leaders

publicans need to be consistently communicating … on the local level, the regional level and the national level," he said. "It's not just with the political news media. … It's on the ‘Today’ show. We see it on ‘The View’ every single day. It's on Comedy Central, it's on HBO, it's on ESPN and on Fox Sports."

The expectation among most Republican aides and observers of the conference is that Stefanik likely will win the post by a wide margin. She's spent significant time campaigning for many members, particularly women members, through her E-PAC. And she has the public support of both House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. 

Former President Donald Trump also encouraged Stefanik to return for another term as conference chair, Stefanik previously told Fox News, which could become a factor in the race.

But Donalds says his message is connecting with more people than others may expect and is optimistic he can make the secret-ballot race competitive. 

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"I think that there are a lot of members who are actually open-minded about this race. They want to see plans and ideas," Donalds told Fox News Digital. "There are a lot of members who want it just run and managed a different way.

"I would tell people who think it's a foregone conclusion, not so fast."

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Donalds said that even if he loses, he hopes his campaign leads to conversations among Republicans about ensuring power in the party isn't fully centralized in leadership. 

"I'm going to be a lot more outspoken internally about what we should be doing as a conference," Donalds said about the upcoming Congress. "We've all worked hard. Everybody's campaigned hard. And so the members who are duly elected by the people who sent them should be able to have their voices heard."

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"But also, just making sure that there's that back and forth, there's that dialog between members no matter what part of the conference they might be in, and even with the leadership," he added. "It also builds buy-in. If everybody knows that they have kind of a hand in making the dinner, everybody feels confident."

Donalds' ideas mirror some points in a guide the House Freedom Caucus recently sent to all new GOP candidates about what it views as issues in the House. Donalds is a member of the Freedom Caucus.