The Republican Party of Florida’s “Sunshine State Showdown” ultimately didn’t feature a gubernatorial debate in a lopsided race.
But that doesn’t mean candidates who aren’t front-runner Byron Donalds are happy about it.
After weeks of complaining that they can’t compete with the Congressman from Naples if he won’t appear on stage with him, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and former House Speaker Paul Renner had their says in a room where Donalds at least was present.
Collins callout
Second Lady Layla Collins gave extended remarks ahead of her husband’s speech, selling him as “man with the moral compass” and the best candidate to win a General Election.
“You have to know what’s important. You have to know how to take the fight to the people, and never back down, and do what’s right. Not what’s a headline, not what’s a good speech, not a Fox News hit, and not just a social media click,” she said.
LG Collins, who said he was Ron DeSantis‘ “continuity plan,” was direct in his criticisms.
“Because there are people right now trying to sell Florida a very familiar product. They’re telling you that Byron Donalds is a safe choice. The acceptable choice, the electable choice, the one who can void a fight, literally. The one who can get through general election because he looks good on television and checks the boxes. My friends, we’ve heard that before. They sold Republicans Charlie Crist the same exact way,” said Collins, who moved to Florida eight years after Crist left the Governor’s Mansion.
He went on to detail how Florida Democrats’ chair “Nikki Fried and her cronies” would use oppo against Donalds and his “vulnerabilities” during a potential “General Election nightmare,” suggesting that Jolly would have millions of dollars he could use to go on the attack.
“They’re going to ask about character. They will ask how a member of Congress went to Washington and saw his net worth explode. They will ask about stock trades. They’ll ask about drug dealing and crime. They’ll ask about money and influence, and they’ll ask about every headline, every disclosure, every transaction. Every donor that looks like Washington doing what Washington does,” Collins said.
Renner riposte
Renner largely avoided personal attacks. He outlined his roles in the military, as prosecutor, and Speaker as selling points that he would be a “Governor that gets in and delivers results” with a “vision for the future” should he be elected.
“So, we do have a Governor’s race, and I think everyone has to pick their criteria for themselves, but if I’m in your shoes and as a voter, the first thing on my mind is I want someone who is ready to step in no matter what comes our way. I will never forget 2018 with an election returns were coming in, and we didn’t know where they were gonna have Ron DeSantis or governor Andrew Gillum. Just imagine that. The devastation we would have had, we didn’t know COVID was coming, and we don’t know what’s coming in the next eight years. So the first thing for comparison among the candidates is positions of trust and leadership under pressure.”
Later in his remarks, he said he was the only person to “run to the fight” in the field, an antidote to “special interests trying to control transactional politicians.”
“I joined the Governor in 2022 and 2024 to try to make sure we got rid of these woke school board members and put common sense conservatives in positions across this state. I also joined the Governor in pushing back to defeat Amendment 3 and 4. I traveled the state. I wrote op eds in 2024, spent over $2 million between school board races and opposing the anything goes abortion amendment. Because that’s what leaders should do. It should be the rule, not the exception. And so if you want a leader, there’s only one in this race who stepped into those fights.”
Third way
Another long shot, Bobby Williams, avoided the controversy with an autobiographical speech that discussed his journey in Christ and how God lobbied him to run for Governor over a period of years.
The field’s speeches may not have moved the needle.
Ahead of Donalds’ segment, which ended up as a Q&A, Sen. Rick Scott reiterated his endorsement, calling him Florida’s “next Governor.”
