TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The race for Florida’s governor in 2026 is heating up with Republican James Fishback officially throwing his hat into the ring on Monday.

Residing in Madison, Florida, and originally from Broward County, Fishback serves as the CEO of the investment firm Azoria and founded Incubate Debate, a debate league dedicated to students.

Among his primary challengers is Rep. Byron Donalds, who enjoys the endorsement of President Trump. Fishback has expressed concerns, claiming that Donalds “won’t advocate for Florida.”

In a campaign announcement video shared on X, Fishback criticizes Donalds for his stance on H-1B visas, the development of AI data centers, and trading stocks while serving in Congress.

“Congressman Byron Donalds can’t be our next governor because he won’t fight for Florida,” said Fishback. “I will. I’ll fight to preserve Governor DeSantis’ wins by keeping Florida free from DEI, radical transgenderism, Soros-backed prosecutors, child predators, voter fraud, and the millions of illegals who invaded our country on Kamala Harris’ watch.”

The Chief Strategist for the Byron Donalds for Governor Campaign, Ryan Smith, said,  “Byron Donalds will be Florida’s next governor because he is the proven conservative fighter endorsed by President Trump. Anyone running against him is an anti-Trump RINO and will get crushed in the Republican primary.”

Fishback, who has never held political office, says his top priority is to deliver a more affordable life for Floridians. His agenda includes abolishing property taxes for all Florida residents’ homesteaded properties.

“I am a businessman. I’m an investor. I took on Wall Street. I actually sued the Federal Reserve earlier this year for keeping interest rates too high. I think that was in part to spite President Trump. I filed a landmark legal brief with the Supreme Court defending President Trump’s right to remove corrupt federal officials, but my background is that of a 4th-generation Floridian,” Fishback said.

In the coming months, he plans on traveling to each county to “meet as many Floridians as I can, where they live, work and pray.”

Despite Congressman Byron Donalds being the frontrunner in recent polls of likely Republican voters, Fishback says he plans to outwork his opponent and earn the trust of Floridians.

“I plan to show up. I plan to take tough questions,” Fishback said. “I’m always going to be available at these town halls to take questions from anyone. I believe that Floridians deserve a governor they can see, talk to, heck, even yell at or debate with, and I want to be there to answer their questions because Floridians are wise.”

One question Fishback didn’t shy away from answering was about litigation with his previous employer, Greenlight Capital. According to ABC News, “Fishback alleged that he misrepresented his position at the company in order to gain credibility for his own fund, Azoria Partners, by falsely claiming he was the company’s ‘Head of Macro’”.

“I worked at Green Light Capital for three years and there was a dispute about my job title when I worked there and when I left to create a competing firm,” Fishback said. “The truth is that when you try to take on Wall Street, surprise, surprise, they’ll fight back. My boss, my ex-boss is a billionaire Soros-aligned investor. He’s only funded Democrats. He’s not happy that I supported President Trump. He, in fact, told me my first day on the job that he wanted President Trump in prison and wanted to see Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States. And so at the end of the day, I’m not concerned about my former employer.”

Fishback is now one of the 20+ candidates running for office. The full list can be found on the Florida Department of State’s webpage.