FL GOP gubernatorial candidates blast party’s decision to not hold debate

The Republican Party of Florida confirmed Friday that there will be no “full” gubernatorial debate later this month when the party holds its annual summer confab in South Florida.

The reason? Party officials say that only Byron Donalds of Naples has met the established criteria to qualify, consisting of three metrics:

• The candidates had to have reached at least 10% support in an official party poll (and align with other “reputable public polling”).
• They had to have raised over $10 million.
• They had to have secured more than 10,000 donors.

“In a state as large and diverse as Florida, with its multiple media markets and complex political landscape, this remains a reasonable and accessible threshold,” said Bill Helmich, executive director of the RPOF, in a press release.

He  added that while there will be no formal debate, the party “remains committed to giving Republican primary voters the broadest possible opportunity to hear from candidates.”

Fueled by his endorsement from President Trump a year ago, Donalds has dominated the race in the polls and fundraising. An Associated Industries of Florida survey of 386 likely Republican voters showed Donalds with 54% support.

Investment firm CEO James Fishback was next at 8%; Lt. Gov. Jay Collins was at 5%; and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner was at 2%, with 31% undecided.

Helmich did say that five GOP gubernatorial candidates will appear on stage throughout the day during the “Sunshine State Showdown” on June 27 in Hollywood to speak about their candidacies. He did not list them by name.

Renner blasted the idea that he won’t be able to engage Donalds in a debate.

“I think it’s been rigged from the start, to be perfectly honest, and it’s just par for the course,” he told the Phoenix Thursday. “There’s a lot of disappointment in the state party at the local level among the local party officials, and I saw this coming a mile away.”

Renner added that it is “dangerous” to potentially have a nominee who hasn’t been battle tested before going up against the Democratic nominee in the fall, “and that’s exactly what the RPOF is intent on doing with respect to this ‘Sunshine State No Showdown.’”

A ‘disgraceful’ decision

Fishback said the decision is “disgraceful.”

“Floridians deserve a debate to see the candidates’ plan to stop data centers, invest in education, preserve law and order, and end the inflation crushing our state,” he said.

Jay Collins’ campaign has been outspoken in expressing his frustrations about not being able to engage with Donalds, going as far as creating a website called “The Collins Callout” to challenge Donalds to a debate.

“I cannot wait to debate Byron Donald,” Collins says on the website. “If the RPOF refuses to let us meet head on, we will gladly go anywhere he is —including D.C., his primary residence.”

The Donalds campaign responded with a written statement.

“There are no participation trophies in politics,” said communications director Gates McGavick. “It is not Byron’s job to legitimize campaigns that have failed to gain meaningful support. Republicans are united behind Byron Donalds on defeating Democrats in November.”

The lack of any type of debate has frustrated Renner, who also is calling out Collins for refusing to engage.

“He [Collins] hasn’t attended a single candidate forum,” Renner said. “He was in Naples the day before a candidate forum I had with James Fishback but he had a scheduling conflict. And once is a scheduling conflict, more than once is a pattern. We were at the home school convention within 12 hours apart but he couldn’t make that candidate forum.

“He’s out screaming about having debates. You gotta show up for one first to have standing to call for one, and anybody who’s not willing to debate another Republican, how in the world are they going to defend the free state of Florida?”

Joining in the criticism was Florida’s sitting governor, Ron DeSantis. Speaking in Palm Beach County Friday, the governor took issue with the party being the arbiter of who could participate in a debate.

“There should be a debate. They said that there was going to be a debate,” he said.

“They didn’t put out the criteria publicly. I don’t think the RPOF ever voted on any type of criteria. I’ve heard second-hand what the criteria was. I wouldn’t have qualified when I ran in ’18 for what they were trying to do, and so it’s counterproductive when you try to engineer an outcome because you need a coalition of voters to do well, and this may be a tough cycle for Republicans if you look at some of the indicators, the way things are trending.

“And so, having an open process and having people be able to have their say is always better than to try to engineer an outcome.”

The Republican and Democratic primaries are set for Aug. 18. The winner will likely take on former Pinellas County GOP U.S. Rep. David Jolly in November.