After serving two terms, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now term-limited, meaning the governor’s race is an open seat this year. Both the Republican and Democratic primary ballots will be crowded, with a Libertarian candidate and six no party affiliation candidates awaiting the primary winners in the general election.
News4JAX sent a questionnaire to each candidate asking about their background and their views on several issues. Scroll down to read the responses of those seeking your vote in their own words.
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Note: Responses are sorted alphabetically by party and are presented exactly as submitted, with no editing by News4JAX staff.
| DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES |
Evelyn Castillo-Bach
Campaign website: evelynforgovernor.org
Campaign social media: Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | BlueSky
The Democratic candidate has not responded to email and telephone invitations to complete the News4JAX candidate questionnaire. If responses are received, they will be promptly posted in this space.
Thomas Eloy Fernandez
Occupation: Retired United States Air Force Veteran, Healthcare Professional, Nonprofit Executive, and Community Advocate.
Age: 49
Family: Thomas is married and the proud father of two children. His family has called Florida home since 1997 and has spent years serving communities across the state through military service, healthcare, nonprofit leadership, and community outreach.
Education: Associate degree from Miami Dade College; Bachelor of Science from Weber State University; Master of Science in Clinical Laboratory Sciences from Rutgers School of Health Professions. Certified Medical Laboratory Scientist (ASCP).
Political experience: While this is my first campaign for elected office, I have spent more than two decades serving in leadership positions in the United States Air Force, healthcare, emergency management, nonprofit organizations, and community service. My experience has been built on leading people, solving complex problems, managing public resources responsibly, and serving others.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Florida families deserve a government focused on solving problems. My top priorities are affordability, including homeowners insurance and housing costs; expanding access to quality healthcare, especially for seniors, veterans, and underserved communities; and restoring trust through transparent, accountable government. I will work with local communities, businesses, and the Legislature to develop practical solutions that strengthen our economy, improve public services, and protect Florida’s natural resources while keeping our state affordable and competitive.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I bring a unique combination of military leadership, healthcare expertise, emergency management experience, and years of community service. For more than 20 years, I served our nation in the United States Air Force, helping lead teams through complex challenges while remaining accountable to those I served. Since retiring, I have continued serving Florida families through nonprofit work, helping veterans, seniors, individuals with disabilities, and working families navigate real-life challenges. My campaign is built on listening, bringing people together, and delivering practical, accountable solutions that improve everyday life for Floridians.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I hope to be remembered for making Florida more affordable, restoring trust in state government, strengthening healthcare and education, supporting veterans and working families, protecting our environment, and leaving Florida stronger, more united, and better prepared for future generations than when I took office.
Campaign website: qrco.de/novaforflorida
Campaign social media: Facebook | Instagram
Dayna Marie Foster
Occupation: BROWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER
Age: 32
Family: (No answer)
Education: Fort Lauderdale High School (HS Diploma - 2011), Broward College (Associate of Arts - 2015), Florida Atlantic University (Bachelor of Science in Finance - 2019), Florida International University (Master of Science in Finance - 2021), Florida State University (Master of Science in Information - 2022)
Political experience: N/A
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
First, expanding economic opportunity and affordable housing, so working Floridians can build secure, stable lives. Second, guaranteeing healthcare for all and strengthening public education because quality care and good schools should be within everyone’s reach. Third, building safer, stronger communities through commonsense gun reform and a firm commitment to human rights. By tackling these issues, my solutions would create a more equitable and prosperous future for every person in our state.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
What sets me apart from the career politicians in this race is that I’m not funded by corporate special interests. I don’t answer to political machines. I answer directly to the people.
As a public school teacher for over a decade, I live the same exact reality as everyday Floridians. I know firsthand how rising property taxes, a strained education system, and skyrocketing housing costs impact working families, because I feel it too. I’m running to put people over politics and to bring public service back into public office.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
When my time in office is done, I want to be remembered for completely shifting how leadership looks in Florida. I hope my legacy is a state where our public schools are fully funded and teachers are finally respected, where working families aren’t being priced out of their own neighborhoods by skyrocketing housing costs, and where our diverse communities can thrive without fear of political scapegoating. Most of all, I want to be remembered for proving that a truly grassroots, people-powered campaign can take on corporate special interests and win. I want Floridians to look back and say that we brought transparency, empathy, and real accountability back to our state.
Campaign website: www.fosterforflorida.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn
David Jolly
Occupation: Attorney
Age: 53
Family: Wife: Laura Jolly; Children: Daughter Cece and Son Teddy
Education: Undergraduate: Emory University B.A. in History, 1994
Law School: George Mason University J.D. cum laude, 2001
Political experience: In March of 2014, I was elected to the 114th Congress and in November of 2014, I was re-elected to the 115th Congress. Prior to that, I spent nearly 20 years working with or adjacent to the United States Congress, including serving as General Counsel to U.S. Rep. Bill Young during his Chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
My top priorities are housing, healthcare, and education. I’ll work to lower homeowners’ insurance costs by creating a state catastrophic fund, and invest in workforce and affordable housing. I’ll work to expand Medicaid and access to primary care through community health clinics, nonprofits, and federally qualified health centers. I’ll lead a 10-year renaissance in public education using tourist tax dollars, pay teachers more, and ensure all publicly funded choice schools meet required academic and service standards.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
In an era of hyper-partisanship and increased division, I’m building a coalition focused on big solutions to big problems – a state catastrophic fund to reduce homeowner’s insurance by over 50%, increased access to primary healthcare for all Floridians, a 10-year renaissance in public education. I served in Congress as a Republican, I spent 6 years organizing the independent space, today I’m a proud Florida Democrat. But I’m not driven by party identification, I’m running to get us past our party identifications.
I also bring concrete policy solutions to issues Floridians face right now: affordability, rising insurance costs, stagnant wages, gaps in education, healthcare access, and economic opportunity. These are the basics of people’s personal economies and current financial concerns.
I am committed to practical, results‑driven policymaking, and I am focused on improving the quality of life in this state by addressing the issues that matter most to families, workers, and communities across Florida.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I believe the economy should work for everyone, government can do its part to improve our lives, and everyone’s rights should be protected regardless of the color of your skin, where you were born, who you love, or who you worship. I hope to be remembered for restoring faith in that vision for all Floridians, building a state that expands opportunity and lowers the historically high cost of living.
Campaign website: davidjolly.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | Threads | BlueSky
Dotie Joseph
Occupation: Florida State Representative, Attorney
Age: (No response)
Family: My loving family includes my parents (a pastor and nurse), siblings (public school teacher, dentist and law student), and lots of extended family.
Education: B.A., Yale University
J.D., Georgetown Law Center
Political experience: Florida House of Representatives, Democratic Minority Leader Pro Tempore
First Vice Chair, Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee
Democracy Program Intern with former President Jimmy Carter, Carter Center
Intern and Legislative Correspondent, Congressman Peter Deutsch
Volunteer Attorney, Yale Political Action Chair, and lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Volunteer election protection attorney with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
(1) Make Florida Affordable for ALL
Floridians are struggling with skyrocketing costs, and it’s time to end culture wars and focus on practical solutions for our families. My priority is lowering everyday expenses—housing, healthcare, property insurance, groceries, and gas–and I’ve previously filed legislation to address these issues. I successfully worked across the aisle to pass laws to cap insulin costs, extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from one month to a full year, and allocate $9 million to address health disparities. As Governor, I plan to fight for and sign bold legislation—like the Real Affordable Housing Act (to address underlying issues increasing housing stock and mitigate rent prices), the Healthy Florida Act (establishing universal healthcare), and the Florida Economic and Prosperity Act (lower grocery costs, support small businesses)
2. Protect Our Civil Rights and Democracy
As a civil rights attorney, defending fundamental rights is my life’s work–including litigating discrimination cases to the U.S. Supreme Court; negotiating bipartisan police reform; and numerous laws to empower and protect survivors of domestic violence, refugees, and child or elder abuse. As Governor, I plan to use my veto power to protect against legislative overreach, voter disenfranchisement, and any attempt to infringe on our civil rights.
3. Less Hate, More Love with Real Community Care
In a world in which politics has become dominated by fear-mongering, division, and hate, I believe that we should “love thy neighbor” and treat everyone with compassion and respect. As a government attorney and state legislator, I’ve seen where government works for people, and how it can work against people. As Governor, I want to make government work for all of us, not just the 1%. That means having an agenda that provides meaningful support for our most vulnerable populations–like seniors and veterans who will feel the impact of the federal cuts to programs like Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. Loving thy neighbor also means feeding the hungry, protecting our local environment, caring for our seniors, and protecting our environment.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
What sets me apart in this race is that I bring a uniquely effective combination of proven bipartisan legislative results, legal expertise, and my genuine compassion for and commitment to caring for people.
Unmatched Civil Rights & Legal Record: As a civil rights and government attorney, defending fundamental rights isn’t just a talking point—it’s my life’s work. I have litigated employment discrimination class-action cases all the way to wins at the U.S. Supreme Court, fought for victims of police brutality, negotiated bipartisan police reform after George Floyd’s murder, and advocated for domestic violence survivors, immigrants, and refugees long before it was popular.
A Proven Track Record of Delivering Results–lowering costs, expanding access to healthcare: While others make promises, I have already delivered real solutions for Florida families. I successfully passed legislation extending postpartum Medicaid coverage from one month to a full year, capped insulin costs, and secured $9 million to directly address community health disparities.
Actionable Policy Solutions Ready on Day One: I don’t just point out problems; I author concrete legislation to fix them. I have filed comprehensive bills like the Real Affordable Housing Act to increase housing supply and address rent, the Healthy Florida Act to establish universal healthcare, and the Florida Economic and Prosperity Act to lower grocery costs, support small businesses, and protect our workforce.
Bold Executive Action: As Governor, I plan to leverage every tool of the executive branch to protect Floridians—using my veto power to block legislative overreach and voter disenfranchisement, using my pardon power to safeguard women and healthcare providers seeking or delivering reproductive care, and moving decisively to restore voting rights for returning citizens.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I hope to be remembered as:
- a leader who made a tangible difference in people’s lives, restored goodwill among neighbors, and rejected divisive culture wars and fear-mongering.
- the governor who made Florida truly affordable for ALL—fundamentally lowering the cost of living by expanding affordable housing, capping prescription drug costs, lowering grocery prices, and guaranteeing accessible healthcare so working families no longer have to choose between paying their rent or taking care of their health.
- a Governor who defended our democracy and protected our civil rights.
- Established compassion and real care to governance, replacing division and hate with love, service, and dignity by building a state that actively cares for the sick, feeds the hungry, shelters those in need, protects our environment, and treats our immigrant communities with respect.
Campaign website: dotiejoseph.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | Instagram
Stephann Norman
Occupation: (No answer)
Age: 31
Family: (No answer)
Education: AIU Online Bachelor’s Degree Business Management Magna Cum Laude
Political experience: (No answer)
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
1. True Affordable Housing- Rent Reduction
2. Florida Healthcare- Expand State Medicaid, to cover seniors, children, veterans and those with disabilities
3. Revitalize Education AND Environment- Revamp education with truth, integrity, and critical thinking. Start a clean up of the environment and begin to help the environment recover.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
By creating ways for Floridians to have affordable rent so they have more disposable income for food and less medical expenses. Being bold, fearless and willing to act on my true intentions to help the people of Florida. A true, authentic Democrat that understands that helping everyday working-class people is a labor of love and with the help of God ALL things are possible while standing up and fighting for Florida.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
To be remembered as the one who did everything he could for the betterment of Florida and Floridians. Being inspired by God to run for office as He explained to me that instead of looking for someone else to do something for me or vote for, to look in the mirror and become the change I want to see in Florida and in life. Therefore, remember me as the one who answered back to God with a “yes” selflessly. No pride, ego, or ulterior motive because Floridians and Florida are at the top of my mind.
Campaign website: www.sn4flgovernor.org
Campaign social media: Instagram | X | TikTok
| REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES |
Jay Collins
Occupation: Lieutenant Governor of Florida, appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Retired U.S. Army Green Beret after more than 23 years of service, including combat.
Age: 50 years old
Family: I am married to my wife, Layla, who is a 20-year veteran of the United States Army. We have two sons, Gabe and Colt.
Education: Bachelor of Science degree in health sciences and pre-medicine from American Military University, Master of Science in organizational leadership from Norwich University
Political experience: Lieutenant Governor of Florida, 2025–present
Florida State Senator, 2022–2025
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Education, affordability, and public safety.
As Governor, I will keep parents in charge of education and expand real pathways for every student, college, trades, and the military, so Florida kids are ready for the future they choose, not the future Washington picks for them.
I will make Florida affordable again by eliminating taxes on homesteaded property, protecting essential services, and fighting the insurance and everyday costs crushing families and seniors. Florida should be a place where you can own a home and build a life, not just survive the bill.
And I will keep Florida safe by backing law enforcement, holding repeat offenders accountable, and leading through storms with the same urgency I learned in combat. Growth is welcome when it strengthens Florida. It is not welcome when ordinary Floridians get stuck with the cost.
Washington politicians talk about these problems. I have already been fighting them here, and as Governor I will finish the job.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
As Governor Ron DeSantis’s handpicked Lieutenant Governor, I already help lead the free state of Florida. I am not a politician from Washington. I am a Green Beret who has already been doing the job.
Washington politicians can point to speeches, cable hits, and a brand built in Congress. I can point to command under fire and results in Tallahassee. I led men into combat as a Green Beret. I was shot, operated on my own arm, lost my leg, and went back to the fight. Then in the Florida Senate I sponsored constitutional carry, helped restrict hostile foreign interests in Florida land, and required our schools to teach the history and horrors of communism.
That is the difference in this race. One path is D.C. politics. The other is earned leadership forged in combat and proven in Florida government. Florida does not need another politician from Washington. Florida needs a warrior ready on day one to protect what we built under Governor DeSantis, strengthen it, and put more points on the board. When Florida leads, America wins.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I want to be remembered as the governor who refused to let Florida become another Washington story.
Not remembered for cable hits, stock trades, or ducking hard debates. Remembered for keeping Florida free, safe, and affordable. For backing the badge. For making sure families could own a home without being taxed out of it. For leading through storms instead of spinning through them.
Washington politicians run on attention. I will run on results. I am not a politician. I am a Green Beret who came here to finish the mission: protect what we built under Governor DeSantis, strengthen it, and hand Florida to the next generation stronger than we found it.
Campaign website: www.jayforflorida.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Byron Donalds
Occupation: Congressman
Financial Advisor
Age: 47
Family: Erika Donalds, wife
Damon Donalds, son
Darin Donalds, son
Mason Donalds, son
Education: Florida State University, Bachelor of Arts Finance and Marketing
Political experience: Florida House of Representatives, 2016-2020
U.S. Congress, 2020-present
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Affordability:
Cut property taxes and insurance rates
Modernize permitting and planning to lower the cost of home construction
Increase competition in healthcare to lower costs for prescription medicines and doctor visits
Audit all state and local government spending to root out waste, fraud, and abuse
Education:
Every Florida student deserves a quality education. We will protect school choice so families, not the government, decide what’s best for their kids. And it starts early: every student will be reading at grade level by the third grade, because a strong foundation in reading is the building block for everything that comes after.
We will give every Florida student a personalized plan starting in sixth grade, co-created with parents, that treats college, trade, military, and entrepreneurship as equally valuable paths. Education dollars will follow the student, not a default track, with dual enrollment, certifications, and apprenticeships counting toward graduation. Students who change direction won’t lose time or money, and employers will help design real career pathways.
Law and Order:
I will stand firmly with Florida’s law enforcement, working hand in hand to uphold the rule of law while opposing any effort to defund or demoralize them. Endorsed by the Florida Police Chiefs Association and the majority of Florida’s Sheriffs, I’ve earned the trust of the men and women on the front lines. We’ll back tougher penalties for violent crime, support policies that keep dangerous offenders off our streets, and ensure officers have the resources, training, and respect they deserve. Safe communities start with backing the men and women who protect them, without exception.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I’m a proven conservative endorsed by Trump. I understand affordability struggles Floridians are facing having grown up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. I am focused on solutions to make life more affordable for Floridians.
I’m the only candidate who’s worked in the real world. I began my career in finance starting as a credit analyst, working up the ladder to financial advisor. I can make decisions without a staffer explaining them to me. I have a winning record in and out of office.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I came to Florida at 17 on a Greyhound bus with nothing but a trunk full of clothes. This state has given me everything. I’ve been able to build a life, family, and career in Florida. I want to make sure everyone who calls this state home has the same shot at the Florida Dream that I did. Florida is the best state in the nation, and I intend to keep it that way.”
Campaign website: byrondonalds.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | YouTube
James Fishback
Campaign website: fishback2026.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | Instagram | X
The Republican candidate has not responded to email and telephone invitations to complete the News4JAX candidate questionnaire. If responses are received, they will be promptly posted in this space.
Jim Holcomb
Occupation: Orlando firefighter 1974 - 2004
Mount Dora, FL, HS math teacher, Special Education, 2005 - 2013
Home builder, 1970 to 2023 ( part time), only 3 subcontractors
Age: 74 years old
Family: Wife, KarenKae
4 daughters
4 grandchildren
19 cats, we rescue cats
Education: Harper Creek HS, Michigan, 1968
Lyman HS, Longwood, Florida, 1970
University of Central Florida, Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, 1974.
National - Louis University, Master of Education, 2010.
Political experience: 29 plus years City of Orlando employee.
29 plus years union membership, AFL - CIO.
7 plus years Lake County Public School, employee.
7 plus years teachers union membership LCEA
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
First, maybe 40% of our insurance premiums are going to attorney prize lotteries. I want to initiate an Injury Compensation Program, similar to Workers Compensation Program. The State, insurance companies, businesses, and injured individuals have injuries repaired on a yearly program as long as necessary.
Second, circuit court judges and other Florida judges are not complying with the Code of Judicial Conduct. No supervision or transparency exists. Judicial Malpractice is protected by other judges and the Florida Attorney General with the Doctrine of Judicial Immunity. Judges are also protected from malpractice damages. I want all circuit court hearings to be audio and video recorded and part of court records. I also want the county Sheriff complying with Florida Statute 26.49 and supervising as the Circuit Court Executive Officer. I also want Florida Constitution Article 4, Section 1 complied with, “The governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
Third, Building Departments throughout Florida are using Extortion Practices with fines that exceed $90,000 per year. The Florida Building Departments are also violating the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment that prohibits unlawful search, seizure, and trespass without a warrant, using a requirement to obtain a Building Permit to supersede the 4th Amendment. My solution is no fines allowed unless through Florida Statute 125.56. The Building Department should be privatized by building financial institutions who already inspect their financed construction. Doctors do not have Doctor Departments to allow doctors to practice medicine, Contractors do not need permits to practice building.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I am returning to the taxpayers all governor pay and pension money. I am not sending mailed campaign flyers. I am more like the voters than the others running for governor.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
Problem solving and listening to the Florida citizens.
Campaign website: jimholcomb4governor.com
Campaign social media: None given
Arthur Joseph McCaffrey
Occupation: I have 3 Corporations, but I mostly only work with one, that is a Rental House business.
My current job... is running to become GOVERNOR of the State of Florida, so I can make this State a State of FREEDOM.
Age: 59
Family: Young Wife (35), and our 6 little kids, ages 1-9yo.
Education: Architectural Engineering
Political experience: I grew up as Democrat, and then switched to Republican about 30 years ago. But I still believe in both sides, as long as they properly agree, to make our State, as good as it can be.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
I know Ron Desantis, has already filed so many new Laws, but I haven’t had time, to see what all of them are. However, I did see the Property Tax issue, and I emailed with Ron Desantis, about the Property Tax issue. If he doesn’t fix it, then I WILL.
Another issue, that is SO important to me, is the definition of what PROBABLE CAUSE is.
Hundred of thousands of people, have SUFFERED from FALSE ARRESTS (including Me). And that needs to STOP.
PROBABLE CAUSE needs to be redefined, to REQUIRE at least one piece of PHYSICAL EVIDENCE (not just the lying words that come out of someone’s mouth).
I have over 100 items on my list, of what to do as GOVERNOR. And, many of them are important.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
Because I will truly only care about the PEOPLE, the LAND, and FREEDOM. I know how to do it, and the PEOPLE will be very FREE in Florida.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I would hope that the PEOPLE, would remember, how I made Florida a better place to live.
A LIFE of HAPPINESS should be Remembered.
Campaign website: I don’t have one yet, because I think I may be the only ‘non-rich’ person, who is running. I’m pretty sure, that almost every candidate is rich. But I’ve met the other Candidates, and they do not seem to be as good for GOVERNOR than I will be.
Campaign social media: And I don’t have these either.
Daniel Nokovich
Occupation: Retired
Age: 65
Family: 6 Biological Children. 3 boys and 3 girls. One beautiful, amazing wife. I married at 52 years old, started having children at 53. Had my last child at 60 years old. Delivered my last three children.
Education: High school, 3 1/2 years at public university and community college. 1 year at Christian College institutes
Political experience: Just an avid student of politics
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Electricity elevated costs./ Introduce competition, decentralize the electric grid by offering Personal Power Plants at every service location.
Pure Water act, We must make pure water a guaranteed commodity, reinstate personal water supply initiative (Make personal wells available again).
Abolish Abortion, we can’t expect God to bless a land that has innocent blood covering it. Abel’s blood cried out to God for justice. How many innocent lives have been murdered, whose blood is rising as one to God for help and justice?
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
My Campaign slogan is; ”Returning Florida Back to The People, and The People Back to God!“
I have at least 20 initiatives that can advance the residents of Florida. But if we gain the whole world and lose our soul, what good will all this activity benefit us. I have a message of ownership of Florida belonging to the people and the People given the public opportunity acknowledge the Supremacy of Christ’s government, in their individual life. Not as a theocratic mandate, simply as the founders original intention to cultivate self government through the external acceptance of the Creator’s wisdom, knowledge and understanding to the needs of His own creation...man.
As for serving the people of Florida, it is my belief that all currency collected, be it time or money, should go to the benefit of Floridians and this be the guiding priniciple.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
1) Abolishing Abortion, the most hideous, sadistic, diabolical, horrific and draconian practice.
2) Breaking up the Utilities monopoly on serving their customers.
3) Holding Water Utility companies to the highest pure water standards in the world.
4) Creating a healthcare system that becomes self perpetuation, financially and medically successful. And redefining total health, to include all aspects of living. For example; Financial, mental, psychological, emotional, hygiene, marital, parental, sibling, cultural civility, and so on.
Campaign website: www.nokovichforgovernor.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok
Paul Renner
Occupation: Attorney
Age: 59
Family: Wife- Adriana Renner
Children- Abigail and William Renner
Education: Bachelor of Arts in history at Davidson College
Juris Doctorate at the University of Florida
Political experience: Florida House Member 2015-2024
Speaker of the Florida House 2022-2024
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
The top three issues in Florida are property taxes, homeowners insurance, and public safety and accountability.
First, homeowners are being squeezed by rising property taxes and the increasing cost of living. Families should be able to keep more of the money they earn instead of seeing it consumed by taxes. I will eliminate property taxes while ensuring essential services with replacement taxes that shift the burden from people who live here to people who vacation and speculate in Florida.
When I led the Florida House, the insurance crisis had already reached a breaking point. As Speaker, I championed and passed landmark insurance reforms that helped slow the rapid escalation of premiums across our state. While there is still more work to do, those reforms laid the foundation for a more stable insurance market. Building on that success, I have a plan to expand those reforms and lower insurance rates by 10% to 20%.
Third, we must strengthen public safety and accountability by stopping public corruption, ending human trafficking, and limiting death penalty appeals to three years. We will also vigorously enforce our immigration laws in partnership with the federal government.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I was a key architect with Governor DeSantis in building The Free State of Florida. When I was leading the legislature, conservatives won every battle and no other candidate has that record. Similarly, my Contract with Florida provides the boldest plan to solve our challenges within the first 100 days after I become governor.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I hope to be remembered as a governor who delivered on a bold agenda to solve Florida’s most difficult problems. It’s easy for candidates to promise they will deliver, but too often those promises go unfulfilled. As Speaker, I have already proven that when I make a commitment, I get it done. I intend to bring that same record of action and accountability as governor.
Campaign website: voterenner.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram
Rachel Rodriguez
Occupation: Lawyer - Vires Law Group, PLLC primary office
Age: 46
Family: Married - Husband and three kids
Education: Rutgers University, School of Law – Camden – J.D.
Wheaton College (IL) – B.A.
Political experience: No prior office
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Reclaiming Parental Rights – parental rights come from God, and the state does not have moral authority to those rights away permanently. DCF must support families, not destroy them.
Restoring Medical Freedom – Informed consent for medical treatment must be sacrosanct in law with real consequences, without global policy interference.
Relieving Working Families – We must stop taxing and consuming the dollar as it is being produced. Lower property taxes, insurance, and curb HOAs.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I have already been fighting for Florida individuals’ rights in court and in petition to our Attorney General without credit or platform, and I have understanding of how the systems are failing their constitutional obligations in real time. Rather than merely passing laws, I am advocating for Floridians on the law as passed, so I can see where rubber meets the road on how we need to continue to help Florida Families Flourish.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
Florida individuals and families flourishing because their productivity is not consumed. They are not forced to expend time and resources on fighting the state - and private entities acting as state proxies - to protect and educate their children and make medical decisions, lower incarceration rates due to productivity replacing delinquency and despair, higher birth rate as families feel economic relief and the value of human life is paramount in our state. The surveillance state is stopped dead in its tracks - moratorium on AI data centers and removal of Flock cameras in favor of decentralized AI development by Florida’s own innovators and tech talent. Recover aquifer resources, upgrade of all disaster prevention infrastructure, and restoration of vulnerable ecosystems together with enforcing moratorium on foreign buy-out of residential and agricultural property resources of the state for Florida’s security and Florida-first development, as well as seeing increase in first-time homebuyers.
Campaign website: rachelforgov.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
James W. Shaw
Occupation: Shaw has built multiple successful businesses across transportation, compost farming, real estate, and fast food. He is self funded and puts Florida first.
Age: 66
Family: Married 44 years, 8 children, 28 Grandchildren
Education: Colgate University
Political experience: James Shaw ran for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture in 2022 in one of the greatest grassroots campaigns in recent Florida history, earning almost 600,000 votes against the big-agriculture-backed winner — roughly 200,000 votes short of victory. He received more votes than Jay Collins, Byron Donalds, and Paul Renner received in their respective races combined. As a proud member of the Mayflower Society, Shaw is a direct descendant of the Founding Fathers, and he has built multiple successful businesses across transportation, compost farming, real estate, and fast food. He is self-funded, beholden to no PAC, and reports only to the people of Florida. Florida needs a manager.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Economic Freedom / Lower Living Costs
Shaw supports business-friendly policies for agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism that create real opportunity for Florida families. Shaw will aggressively pursue lowering living costs by creating competition driven solutions such as researching promising peptide and anti-parasitic healthcare treatments.
Protect Personal Rights
No vaccine mandates. No digital surveillance state. Shaw says Floridians’ personal sovereignty will never be compromised under his administration.
Stop AI Data Centers / Overdevelopment and the Ai Job Apocalypse
Shaw helped lead the coalition that defeated the “Okee-One” AI data center proposed near Lake Okeechobee, persuading the DeSantis administration to withdraw state funding and support. The project would have consumed millions of gallons of water annually, strained the local power grid, discharged chemical blowdown into already-stressed waterways, and created dangerous heat islands near environmentally sensitive land. Shaw calls it part of a larger fight: Florida is losing an estimated 45,000 acres of land a year, and he wants to keep farmland as farmland while protecting clean beaches, food, and water from unchecked expansion. Shaw is one of the few candidates willing to confront the coming wave of AI-driven job loss head-on. Microsoft’s AI CEO has predicted that most, if not all, white-collar tasks could be automated within 18 months, and computer scientist Stuart Russell has warned of potential 80% unemployment as AI threatens workers from surgeons and journalists to truck drivers and tradespeople. Over 10 million Americans work in transportation alone, and emerging robotics platforms are now targeting construction and skilled-trade jobs as well. Shaw refuses AI PAC money — unlike his leading opponent, who has accepted millions from the same tech interests buying up Florida land and eliminating jobs through AI, driverless cars, and robots.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
Shaw has built multiple successful businesses across transportation, compost farming, real estate, and fast food, and developed a management philosophy he calls “SoftHard™.” The approach works in two phases: first, “soft” — approaching every issue or opportunity with compassion, gathering data, insights, and feedback from every stakeholder, formal and informal; then “hard” — attacking the issue with experts and facts, building strategic policies designed to maximize reward and minimize risk. FL needs a manager!
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
Here’s the full final clean version:
A Vision for Florida
When my time in this office is done, I want Floridians to say: he kept his word, and he kept Florida free.
I want to be remembered for slowing the bulldozers. Florida doesn’t have to pave over every acre of wild land and farmland to prosper. Our coastlines, our springs, our open spaces belong to our grandchildren too.
I want to be remembered for breaking up the cartels that drive up everyday costs. Insurance, healthcare, housing, energy, it doesn’t matter the sector, when a handful of players control a market, Florida families pay the price. Look at peptides, promising treatments held back by heavy restriction. I’ll push to ease that access and drive research forward, so medical prices come down. Competition and innovation drive down costs.
I want to be remembered for putting Florida’s classrooms back on solid ground. Reading. Writing. Cursive. Arithmetic. A work ethic that doesn’t apologize for itself. Skills you can build a life on. Manners and respect, taught alongside math and science, because character isn’t optional in a free society.
I want to be remembered as someone who defended your rights without exception. Your right to speak, to worship, to bear arms, to raise your family as you see fit, and to keep what you earn. Florida should be the freest state in the union, not in name only, but in how its laws treat its people.
I want Florida’s communities safe, with a well trained, well organized citizen force standing alongside law enforcement to keep the peace. Freedom and order walk together.
And I want to be remembered as someone who saw the AI disruption coming for Florida’s workforce, and met it with a plan instead of panic. Retraining. Support for small business and skilled trades. Policies that keep Florida workers ahead of the curve, not left behind by it. Humans need to work, not have Universal Basic Income.
That’s the Florida I’m working toward. Vote Shaw on August 18th.
Campaign website: www.shawforgovernor.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | YouTube
Caneste Succe
Campaign website: succeforgovflorida.com
Campaign social media: None found
The Republican candidate has not responded to email and telephone invitations to complete the News4JAX candidate questionnaire. If responses are received, they will be promptly posted in this space.
Bobby Williams
Occupation: 1-Founder of The Freedom Tour , a food and disaster relief ministry of 10 years. Put over 100 million pounds into Floridas economy. 2- Low voltage electrical company of 25 years 3- pastor The Freedom Church 8 years.
Age: 49
Family: Andrea Williams Wife 24 years and daughter 23
Education: High school graduate .
Political experience: Working with over 500 different organizations, from government, to charity organizations for COVID to hurricanes. On the EOC of our county handling all materials coming in during storms. Chair of our local CRA.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
1-Overdevelopment- stop rezoning
2- Affordablility - stop allowing lobbyists and big corporations to control our politics and Tallahassee
3- Water and water quality- get our water rights back, stop allowing organizations to pollute and destroy our waterways
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
Not bought , fighting for the people. Getting back to We the people , instead of we the lobbyists and we the big corporations
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
Preserving Florida and making it affordable again
Campaign website: bwflgov.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | TikTok | YouTube
| LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE |
Scott Eckhard Jewett
Occupation: Entrepreneur, Inventor, Franchise developer
Age: 66
Family: two daughters, aged 31 and 33. Two grandchildren, one 3 years and one 12 months old.
Education: BS in Business Administration and MBA
Political experience: on Mike ter Maat’s team for his Presidential campaign and was a delegate at the 2024 Libertarian National Conference
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
1. Property insurance Floridians can actually afford.
The last round of reforms stopped the bleeding. Citizens has fallen from roughly 1.4 million policies at the 2023 peak to an all-time low near 279,000, and regulators approved its first rate decrease since 2015. I’ll defend those gains. But stabilization is not affordability, and any politician who tells you this is solved hasn’t opened a Floridian’s mail. We still pay the highest premiums in America — roughly $8,292 a year on average. An 8% cut on a bill that tripled is not relief.
A governor owns this problem in a way no legislator does. I will appoint an Insurance Commissioner whose mandate is the policyholder, not the market — and I’ll say publicly what I expect of that office before I fill it. I’ll appoint Citizens board members who understand it is an insurer of last resort, not a permanent parking lot. I’ll put real money in my recommended budget for home hardening, because the cheapest claim is the one the roof prevents. And I will hold carriers to account on denials, delays, and lowball adjustments. We asked homeowners to give up leverage in court. In exchange they are owed a regulator that actually regulates.
2. Make Florida the world capital of thorium and advanced nuclear energy.
Roughly 73% of Florida’s electricity comes from a single source: natural gas. That is a strategic vulnerability for a peninsula in a hurricane belt, and it is about to collide with the largest demand surge in our history. Advanced nuclear — including thorium fuel cycles — is firm, clean, always-on power that doesn’t blow away in a Category 4.
Florida already came within one committee vote of leading. The House unanimously passed a framework letting the state oversee permitting for advanced reactors, and the Senate let it die. As Governor I will put it back on the agenda in my first legislative session and call a special session if it stalls again. I will appoint Public Service Commissioners who treat advanced nuclear as a priority rather than a footnote. And I will personally negotiate and sign an Agreement State compact with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, giving Florida direct licensing authority over source materials — thorium among them — so that we set our own timeline instead of waiting on Washington. Paired with sustained investment in the University of Florida’s Nuclear Fuels and Materials Characterization Facility, the research, the supply chain, the manufacturing, and the jobs stay in Florida.
3. End property taxes on homesteaded Florida homes.
I am the only candidate who attended the state Legislature meetings and lobbied for a bill to eliminate 100% of property tax on all homestead property owners. You should not pay rent to the government to live in a house you already own. On November 3, voters decide Amendment 3 — the same ballot I’m on. I’m a yes, and I’ll campaign for it in all 67 counties. It raises the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and opens the path to eliminating non-school homestead property taxes entirely.
Passing it is the easy part. Implementing it is the job, and it lands on the next governor’s desk. I’ll be straight with you: police, fire, and roads still have to be paid for. I will not sign an implementation that hands cities an unfunded mandate and lets Tallahassee take the credit. I’ll bring counties, municipalities, and first responders to the table before the bill is written, demand real spending discipline at every level of government, and use the veto pen if what comes back is a shell game.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
Because I’ll say the thing the others won’t.
There are more than forty people running for this office. Most of them have spent the campaign testing which sentences are safe. I’ve spent it on three positions that are each, in their own way, politically inconvenient: that our insurance market is stabilized but still the most expensive in America and the people who fixed it are done fixing it; that Florida should build a thorium nuclear industry, which is unfamiliar enough that consultants tell you not to mention it; and that we should end property taxes on homesteaded homes and be honest with voters about what that costs instead of pretending the money appears from nowhere. I’d rather lose a race explaining a hard idea than win one by saying nothing.
I hate government waste — not as an applause line, but as the reason most of the rest of this is possible. Florida DOGE’s authority sunset on July 1 of this year. The audits found real bloat, but the process had real problems: a report deadline to lawmakers was missed, and the findings identified wasteful spending without identifying fraud. Counties were handed a headline number and, months later, still hadn’t received the promised line-item audit. Others publicly disputed the math and asked for the underlying work. That’s not accountability — that’s a press conference. As Governor I will make the efficiency function permanent, staff it with auditors instead of communications people, put it beyond the reach of whoever happens to be Governor, and publish every workpaper. If we’re going to tell a county it wasted $300 million, we show our math. Waste-hunting that can’t survive scrutiny isn’t conservative. It’s theater.
And I’ll use the tools the office already has. The line-item veto is the most underused power in Tallahassee. I intend to use it until it stops being news.
My governing philosophy is simple and it is not fashionable in either party: government should do a very small number of things, and do those things extremely well. Protect life, liberty, and property. Enforce contracts. Keep the lights on. Everything past that is negotiable, and most of it should be negotiated down. That means limited government — fewer agencies, fewer mandates, fewer permits between a Floridian and their own plans. It means personal freedom, including in the decisions government has no business auditing in the first place. And it means strong law enforcement, because protecting people from force and fraud is the one job the state cannot delegate. Officers should be well-trained, well-paid, and well-equipped — and they should be funded by a transparent budget, not by seizing property from people who were never convicted of anything. Those two commitments aren’t in tension. They’re the same commitment: government confined to its proper work, and excellent at it.
What voters get from me that they can’t get elsewhere is the willingness to tell them the truth before the election instead of after.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I’d like a Floridian ten years from now to find this question in an archive somewhere and not understand why it was ever hard.
That they own their home outright — that the deed means what it says, and no homesteaded family in this state pays the government rent to live in a house they already bought.
That when the grid holds through a Category 4 and the bill stays low, nobody thinks it’s remarkable, because Florida built the world’s first great thorium nuclear industry and the rest of the country came here to learn how — cheap power, clean power, safe power, made in Florida by Floridians.
And that they’ve never known what an $8,000 insurance premium feels like, because we cut what homeowners pay by seventy percent and never let it climb back.
None of that is a monument. It’s a lower stack of bills on somebody’s kitchen table and a state that got out of their way. I’d be proud to be forgotten for it.
Campaign website: www.scottjewett.com
Campaign social media: Instagram
| NO PARTY AFFILIATION CANDIDATES |
Dean Abrams
Occupation: Entrepreneur, Technology Executive
Age: 50
Family: Married 14 years, one child 10 years old.
Education: Bachelors of Science - Biochemistry/Genetics. Post-graduate studies in Artificial Intelligence, Business Administration, Cloud Technology, Finance
Political experience: None
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
1. Affordability - Floridians are being crushed from every direction. Property insurance companies are pulling out of the state, leaving fewer options and driving premiums through the roof. Investment firms like BlackRock and Invitation Homes are buying up single-family houses by the thousands, pricing families out of homeownership and turning neighborhoods into rental portfolios. Property taxes keep climbing. Gas prices have spiked because of a war most voters didn’t ask for, and energy costs are following. Food, healthcare, medicine, fuel - every basic cost of living has outpaced what Floridians earn. Here is what I will do about it. I will push legislation to ban institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes in Florida and force existing corporate landlords to divest over time. I will work to eliminate property taxes on primary residences. I will push for a gas tax suspension for as long as fuel prices remain elevated by the conflict, and enforce price-gouging statutes against any station or distributor exploiting the crisis. On insurance, the 2022 and 2023 reforms targeting billboard lawyer fraud and assignment-of-benefits abuse were a start, and USAA just returned nearly a billion dollars to Florida policyholders as a result. But premiums are still too high and carriers are still leaving. I will continue that crackdown on fraud while holding insurance companies accountable when they take the savings and keep premiums inflated instead of passing them to policyholders. And I will support Florida’s local farmers by creating state-backed programs to sell their produce and meats directly to consumers in city centers, cutting out the middlemen who mark up the cost of food that was grown an hour away.
2. Safety/Security/Privacy - America’s politicians have restricted Constitutionally protected rights while selling out Americans to Foreign influence.
ALPR camera networks like Flock Safety are tracking millions of Floridians’ movements without warrants. AI hyperscale data centers threaten to damage the environment and water supply while being granted military designations that eliminate local regulatory authority. I will work to enforce Florida’s Article I Section 23 which guarantees a right to privacy stronger than 4th Amendment federal protections. I will move to ban AI datacenters, ALPRs, and warrantless searches on all devices including phones.
3. Water and Environmental Sovereignty - Florida’s aquifers, springs, and waterways are being depleted by commercial overuse and polluted by agricultural and industrial discharge. Nutrient runoff is driving algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee and along both coasts. Bottling companies are extracting millions of gallons of public water for pennies. But it is not just the water. Florida is losing its orange groves, its farmland, its forests, and its wetlands to unchecked development that paves over the land that filters our water, grows our food, and holds our ecosystems together. I will cap commercial water withdrawals at sustainable levels and end sweetheart extraction deals. I will work to preserve agriculture corridors and block overdevelopment that converts productive farmland and natural habitat into concrete or datacenters or solar farms. Florida’s freshwater belongs to Floridians for drinking and for growing food. Its land belongs to the communities who live on it, not to developers and corporate interests racing to extract everything they can before there is nothing left to protect.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I am the only candidate in this race who is not funded by the industries I would regulate. I’m not party affiliated so I answer only to the people. No party, no PAC, no billionaire donors. I spent 30 years building and managing large technology systems across government, finance, and healthcare. When I tell you how Flock cameras track your movements or how data centers drain your aquifer, I am not reading a briefing paper. I built systems and I understand how they work, and how they can be used to harm Americans. I can read and balance a state budget, trace how money moves through procurement and pension investments, and draft actual legislation. Most candidates run on slogans. I can show you who is raising your costs, how they are doing it, and hand you the bill language to stop it.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
1. Removing existing financial burdens on Floridians - no property taxes on homes.
2. Lowering the cost of living - lower insurance, food, fuel, healthcare, medicine, schools, etc.
3. Ensuring no Floridian is denied medical treatment or medication regardless of ability to pay.
4. Protecting our natural lands for the enjoyment of future generation and ensuring our water is protected.
5. Banning the surveillance state by enforcing constitutional privacy rights, banning ALPRs, and blocking AI hyperscale data centers.
6. Holding the line on medical freedom with no vaccine mandates and no medical procedure mandates.
7. Defending and expanding school choice for parents, including homeschooling options.
8. Making healthy, affordable food accessible to all Floridians by supporting local farmers and creating direct farm-to-consumer programs in city centers
Campaign website: www.deanabrams.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok
Charles Burkett
Occupation: Investments
Age: 65
Family: I have one beautiful son, William 22 years old.
Education: Graduated from the University of Miami with a BS in finance.
Political experience: I have been serving my community in Miami Beach and Surfside since 1986 as a board member, as a chairman, a commissioner, and a mayor over the past four decades.
That experience has given me a rare understanding of government from the inside. I know what works, what doesn’t, and how to cut through bureaucracy to solve problems instead of creating them.
I’ve also led through some of the most difficult moments a community can face. I’ve helped guide our residents through hurricanes, the COVID pandemic, and the collapse of Champlain Towers South, the third deadliest building collapse in United States history, where 98 innocent lives were lost.
Leadership isn’t measured by what you say when things are easy. It’s measured by what you do when everything is on the line. Through the best of times and the worst of times, I have always been there for the people I serve.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
1. Make Florida Affordable Again
Florida should reward the people who built it, not tax them out of it.
I will slash, and ultimately eliminate, property taxes for long term Florida homeowners while creating a path for long term renters to earn the same benefit when they purchase a home.
Beginning after ten years of Florida residency, homeowners will receive an additional 10 percentage point increase in their homestead exemption each year until their primary residence is completely free from property taxes. Long term renters who later purchase a Florida home will earn the same benefit. Those hard earned exemptions will also be transferable to a surviving spouse or children, helping Florida families keep their homes for generations.
2. Put Floridians First
Florida belongs to the people who live here, not the developers who profit from paving it over.
It’s time to stop sacrificing our quality of life for endless growth. I will put current Florida residents first by ending reckless overdevelopment, stopping new housing approvals where roads, schools, and infrastructure are already overwhelmed, and focusing instead on renovating and improving the homes and neighborhoods we already have.
I’ll eliminate HOV lanes and tolls on public roads, restore the full capacity of our highways to Florida drivers, and get traffic moving again.
Florida doesn’t need to become bigger.
It needs to become better.
3. Fix the Insurance Ripoff
Florida’s insurance system isn’t failing by accident. Politicians have spent decades writing laws that protect special interests instead of homeowners. The result is less competition, endless lawsuits, skyrocketing premiums, and families paying more every year for less coverage.
As Governor, I’ll rewrite Florida’s insurance laws from the ground up. I’ll open Florida to every financially strong insurance company willing to compete, expand deductible options so homeowners can choose the level of risk that’s right for them, and eliminate laws and regulations that drive up premiums without protecting consumers. More competition. More choice. Lower prices.
I’ll also tell Floridians the truth. Some homes are simply too risky to insure affordably, and pretending otherwise only makes the problem worse. Where the private market cannot provide a reasonable solution, I’ll help homeowners strengthen their homes against hurricanes or offer meaningful financial incentives to move into safer, storm resistant homes. My goal isn’t to subsidize failure forever. It’s to reduce risk, lower costs, and make Florida stronger, safer, and more affordable.
I don’t go into office to protect government, insurance companies, trial lawyers, or political insiders. I go into office to protect the people who elected me. Every decision I make will be guided by one simple question: Does this make life better for Florida’s citizens? If the answer is no, we’re going to change it.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
The political establishment doesn’t think the way I do, and that’s exactly why I’m running.
Most politicians begin by asking, ”What can I get away with?“ I begin by asking, “What’s the right thing to do?“
Most politicians see government as something to be managed. I see it as something to be fixed.
Most politicians believe there are limits on what government can do for its citizens. I don’t. I believe there are limits only on imagination, courage, and the willingness to challenge a broken system.
Most politicians believe that once they’re elected, they have to compromise with special interests, lobbyists, and political insiders. I don’t. I’ll listen to anyone with a good idea, but I won’t trade away the interests of Florida’s citizens to make the political class happy.
Most politicians spend their time trying to impress lobbyists, consultants, lawyers, and donors. I have no interest in any of them. I’m interested in the people who pay the bills, the taxpayers.
Most politicians avoid difficult decisions because they’re afraid of criticism, bad press, or losing the next election. I’m not. If the right decision is unpopular in the short term but benefits Floridians in the long term, I’ll make it anyway.
I didn’t volunteer more than forty years of my life to become another politician.
I volunteered because I believe government should work for the people, not the people for government. That’s exactly how I’ll govern as your Governor.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I want to recapture the old Florida charm that longtime residents remember.
For too long, our leaders have been obsessed with making everything bigger, denser, and more crowded. Bigger isn’t always better. Better is better.
Florida doesn’t need millions of new residents. Florida needs leaders who will take care of the millions of residents who are already here.
I want to be remembered as the Governor who had the courage to protect Florida’s golden goose, the one laying golden eggs, before it was destroyed by unchecked growth, reckless overdevelopment, and short sighted political decisions.
Campaign website: burkettforgov.com
Campaign social media: (None found)
Jeffrey Peter “Dr. Jeff” Datto
Campaign website: None found
Campaign social media: Facebook
The no party affiliation candidate has not responded to email and telephone invitations to complete the News4JAX candidate questionnaire. If responses are received, they will be promptly posted in this space.
Moliere “Moe” Dimanche
Occupation: FedEx driver
Age: 38
Family: I am married with 3 sons, one in 6th grade and twin kindergartners.
Education: I went to West Orange High School in Winter Garden, and Florida School of the Arts at St. John’s River State in Palatka.
Political experience: I wrote the Charter for the City of West Orlando and led the push for the municipal incorporation of Pine Hills.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
The top 3 issues are:
1- public corruption;
2- challenges facing the ability to own a home;and 3- over-surveillance.
We have to undue the current administration’s efforts to halt accountability. The Halo law was a mistake, disbanding citizen oversight committees was a mistake, and both the Florida Bar and the JQC need an extreme makeover. That’s the first step towards dealing with corruption.
On home ownership, HOAs and mortgage companies are accelerating foreclosures at an alarming rate, and their primary target is the elderly. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, which means that it’s the judges who are allowing these foreclosures to happen. Mortgages do not create a possessory interest under Florida law, but folks are being put on the streets anyway. We have to have more homestead protections and oversight of the judges to prevent people from being thrown out of their homes. As for first time homeowners, Florida has great adverse possession laws that promote the productive use of abandoned properties. The City of Orlando just seized 300 abandoned properties and used them as a business model for “Affordable Housing”, but I don’t want a business model. I want fee simple title for married couples, veterans, college graduates and single mothers. Everyone can own a home under a lottery system that prioritizes the most vulnerable and our service men and women, but they come first. The only obligation would be the consistent payment of property taxes for a set amount of years. That way, infrastructure gets some funding and the People can actually afford to live freely.
Lastly, Flock cameras and Waymo cars operated by individuals in foreign countries have to go. I believe Flock cameras are unconstitutional and illegally search vehicles and seize information. I also believe that the artificial intelligence that goes into these cameras is not reliable, as we saw with the case of Lindsay Isaacs. The State of Florida will not be collecting information on, nor surveilling the People if I am selected as the 47th Governor of the State of Florida.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I’m the only candidate in this race who knows what it is like to be the Common Man. Being consistently surveilled, fighting bogus property liens, questioning bad actors in government under oath, fighting for incorporation for forgotten communities and speaking up for victims of crime when law enforcement made excuses is precisely why I got into this race. I’ve decided to become the candidate that I would cast a vote for because I don’t see anyone offering solutions to the problems Everyday People have. I don’t have ties to big financial backers, special interest groups, lobbying firms, political parties, or anyone who thinks money influences elections. I have my beliefs, my reputation, and commonality with the People who want leadership willing to change the things that are broken. I’m not beholden to any of the interests who benefit when the System is broken, so I won’t have any second thoughts about changing that System and fixing it once and for all.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
After serving as the 47th Governor of the State of Florida, I hope it can be said that I put a dent in homelessness. I hope it can be said that our schools are performing better, and I hope people will say that trust has been restored in our government. It doesn’t feel like “public servants” have been serving the public lately, and I want to be remembered for changing it back to what it is supposed to be.
Campaign website: nomoecorruption.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
Desmond Meade
Occupation: Attorney, author, civil rights leader, and President and Former Founder and Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, National consultant.
Age: 59
Family: Wife, 5 Adult Children and 1 grandson
Education: Juris Doctor, Florida International University College of Law
Bachelor of Science, Public Safety with Concentration in Criminal Justice - Miami Dade College
Associate of Arts, Pre- LAw - Miami Dade College
Associate of Science, Paralegal Studies - Miami Dade College
Honorary Doctorate of Law - Duke University
Political experience: For more than two decades, I have brought people together to solve some of Florida’s toughest challenges. I led the successful Amendment 4 campaign, restoring voting rights to more than 1.4 million Floridians through one of the largest citizen-led constitutional amendments in our state’s history. I built a statewide coalition that united Democrats, Republicans, independents, business leaders, faith communities, law enforcement, and grassroots organizations around a common purpose. Together, more than 5.1 million Floridians from every walk of life and every political affiliation came together to solve a problem that partisan politics had failed to address.
My work has also focused on making communities safer by supporting evidence-based violence reduction initiatives, expanding opportunities for returning citizens, and strengthening partnerships that address the root causes of crime. My experience has taught me that real leadership isn’t about titles. It’s about bringing people together, earning trust, and delivering results.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
Affordability. Florida has become too expensive for too many families. Rising housing costs, skyrocketing property insurance premiums, and higher everyday expenses are making it harder for people to build a future here. I’ll focus on lowering costs, increasing housing options, and making Florida affordable again.
Economy. We need an economy that creates opportunity for everyone, not just those at the top. I’ll support small businesses, invest in workforce development, strengthen public education, strengthen our infrastructure, and prepare Florida for the jobs of tomorrow so working families can earn a good living.
Accountability. Floridians deserve a government that works for them. I’ll bring greater transparency, fiscal responsibility, and ethical leadership to Tallahassee, putting people ahead of politics and delivering results people can see in their everyday lives.
Florida can be more affordable, more prosperous, and more accountable. That’s the future I’m running to build.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
My life is proof that people can overcome hardship and that bringing people together works. I’ve united people across political, racial, religious, and geographic lines to achieve historic results. I’ve helped restore rights, strengthen communities, and support efforts that reduce violence by creating opportunity and building trust.
I don’t just talk about bringing people together. I’ve done it. As governor, I’ll bring that same collaborative leadership to every challenge facing Florida because lasting solutions come from working together, not driving people apart.
I am the only candidate with a demonstrated and verifiable history of fighting for all Floridians from all walks of life and all political affiliations and prioritizing people over politics and special interest.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
I hope people remember that Florida became more affordable, more prosperous, safer, healthier, and more united. That government earned back the trust of the people by listening, solving problems, and delivering results. Most of all, I hope people will say their lives were better because their government finally prioritized their needs and worked for them.
Campaign website: desmondmeade.com
Campaign social media: Facebook | X | Instagram
Frank J. Russo
Occupation: Humanitarian/Business Man
Age: 65
Family: Two gladiator sons that are incredible attorneys and an amazing grandson Theodore who could be the next president.
Education: UCF Business Degree
Political experience: First-time candidate for public office.
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
The top three issues in this race are affordability, economic opportunity, and restoring trust in government.
1. Affordability
Florida has become increasingly unaffordable for too many families. Rising property insurance premiums, housing costs, healthcare expenses, and everyday living costs are making it harder for Floridians to build a future. I will address this through my Lower Cost of Living initiative, which includes comprehensive Florida Property Insurance Reform, Live Local Act 2.0, reducing unnecessary government costs, and policies that increase competition and lower the overall cost of living.
2. Workforce Development and Economic Opportunity
Florida’s economy is growing, but too many employers cannot find qualified workers while too many students graduate without a clear pathway to a successful career. My Ready for Hire™ initiative will connect education directly to employment by expanding career and technical education, industry-recognized certifications, apprenticeships, internships, and partnerships between schools, colleges, and Florida businesses. Every graduate should leave school ready for college, military service, entrepreneurship, or a rewarding career.
3. Government Accountability and Transparency
Floridians deserve a government that delivers results, spends taxpayer dollars responsibly, and remains accountable to the people it serves. Through my Floridians First Initiative, I will modernize state government by increasing transparency, streamlining permitting and regulatory processes, measuring agency performance through public accountability dashboards, eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy, and ensuring every taxpayer dollar is tied to measurable outcomes.
These priorities are connected. When the government is accountable, businesses can grow. When businesses grow, more high-paying jobs are created. When Floridians have good jobs and the cost of living is lower, families can afford to buy homes, raise children, and build lasting financial security. My administration will focus on delivering real results, not just making promises by putting Floridians first in every decision we make.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
My campaign is built on one simple principle: Floridians First. Every decision I make will begin with one question: Does this improve the lives of the people of Florida? If the answer is no, then we need to rethink it.
What sets me apart is that I am not simply running on ideas—I am running on a governing agenda with specific, actionable initiatives that address Florida’s biggest challenges. Through the Lower Cost of Living Initiative, Ready for Hire™, Live Local Act 2.0, Florida Property Insurance Reform, and the Floridians First Initiative, I have laid out a clear roadmap to make Florida more affordable, create opportunity, strengthen our workforce, restore trust in government, and improve the quality of life for every Floridian.
I also bring a different perspective. I am not a career politician. My background is in business, leadership, and solving complex problems. I understand how to build organizations, manage budgets, bring people together, and deliver measurable results. Government should operate with the same accountability and focus on outcomes that successful businesses do.
Most importantly, I believe leadership is about the next generation—not the next election. My goal is to unite Floridians around practical solutions, work with anyone who wants to move our state forward, and ensure that every policy, every dollar spent, and every decision made puts Floridians first.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
That we lifted the lower class into a higher I hope to be remembered for one thing: putting Floridians first and leaving Florida stronger than I found it.
Campaign website: www.russo2026.com