FLORIDA – Former House Speaker Paul Renner announced his campaign for Florida governor on Wednesday.
The military veteran and former state prosecutor who grew up in Jacksonville has thrown his hat in the ring for governor.
“As the father of young children, I think about the future a lot and what’s going to happen when Governor DeSantis is gone,” Renner said.
His primary Republican competitor, Congressman Byron Donalds, has already received the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
“Some people will look at endorsements but they’ll ask three questions: Who do I trust? Who has the leadership background to be Governor? And who can deliver results? As people get to know me and see my record, I’m the best candidate to lead this state for eight years,” Renner said.
While an endorsement from the president may carry a lot of weight in the minds of some voters, Renner said he won’t focus on it.
“I focus on the fact that I believe I’m the right man for the job,” Renner said.
Renner said he’s primarily in line with DeSantis on policy and he supports Trump.
“One of the reasons Donald Trump won is because of kind of the craziness that’s been pushed by the left. I’ve fought the left, I’ve beaten them. If you look at Amendments 3 and 4, pot and abortion. I strongly got engaged in that, not my job as the speaker,” Renner said.
If he makes it past the primary to the general election, the self-described conservative will have to reach middle-of-the-road voters, but doesn’t shy away from culture war issues like removing DEI from schools.
“I want education to be about education, not indoctrination,” Renner said. “I don’t want conservative indoctrination. I want kids to learn the basics. We don’t have 40% of students who don’t read at grade level. That’s a problem.”
Renner also said he thinks it’s good that the massive population growth in Florida is slowing down.
“When I was speaker, we looked down not just to what’s the hot issue of the day but what’s going to happen 20, 30 years down the road,” Renner said. “In infrastructure, set up committees for that purpose. We invested in things like the Florida wildlife corridor, to say ‘hey, let’s set aside some of wild Florida that’s off limits for development so we can continue to enjoy the great outdoors that we have in Florida.”
Renner said he is ready to oppose Democrat David Jolly and the possibility of Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, but he doesn’t suspect she will run; however, she will have to announce that.
Donalds’ campaign released a statement in response to Renner’s campaign announcement:
“Byron Donalds will be Florida’s next Governor because he is the proven conservative fighter endorsed by President Trump.”
DeSantis said in a news conference on Wednesday that he won’t support Renner.
“I’m not supporting Paul Renner,” DeSantis said. “I think it was an ill-advised decision to enter the race.”