GOP gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner is proud of his conservative record while serving in office and says Republican voters should compare it to Byron Donalds’ over the past nine years, “apples to apples.”

The former Florida House speaker is trailing Donalds significantly in early public opinion polls regarding the 2026 Republican gubernatorial Primary, in part because President Donald Trump endorsed the U.S. Representative from Naples in February.

Speaking at the Tampa Bay Trump Republican Club meeting at Mugs Sports Bar & Grill in Clearwater Tuesday night, Renner was asked directly by a member of the audience to provide evidence that voters should ignore Trump and support Renner in next August’s GOP Primary.

“You can compare my leadership experience to anyone in the race or thinking about getting into the race. Byron and I got in office at the same time,” he said.

“He ran against me for Speaker back in 2016 when he was in the state House. What has he done in the nine or 10 years he’s been in office? You can look at what I’ve done in the nine or 10 years that I’ve been in office. It’s an apples-to-apples comparison, and you can ask … at the end of the day, who do you trust more to handle whatever comes our way?”

Renner boasted earlier in the speech about his tenure as speaker between 2022 and 2024, particularly the robust package of bills passed during the 2023 Legislative Session on immigration, abortion and unions, among other initiatives aggressively pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, fresh off his 19-point re-election victory and in advance of his subsequent run for President.

“We did all of this legislative reform and called it the most conservative and consequential two years we had in Florida history,” Renner said.

He added that his legislative record in Tallahassee should be compared to what Donalds has accomplished in his five years in Congress and went on to extoll his proposals as a candidate on affordability and property taxes — proposals he said aren’t being offered by any other candidate in the GOP race for Governor.

Voting record

He also took aim at Donalds’ voting record in Congress.

“Our system is broken; people are too busy running for the next office or getting on TV and not solving the problems. And it’s one thing to talk about repealing Obamacare, or doing something on illegal immigration, but if you haven’t done it, how can you can come into this state, or if you haven’t shown up to take votes in Congress, how can you interview for a position of senior pastor when you don’t show up to church?” he asked.

Renner’s criticism of Donalds’ voting record echoes some of the comments made by DeSantis in February, when the Governor said the Congressman “just hasn’t been part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the left over these last few years.”

When it comes to missed votes in Congress from the Florida delegation, Donalds has ranked fourth worst among the state’s 28 members, according to GovTrack.us.

In Donalds’ first term in Congress (2021-2023), he missed 3.2% of all votes, placing him 63rd among all members in the U.S. House. Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy was tops in Florida members of Congress in missed votes at 8.3%. Republicans Daniel Webster came second with 7.6% and Bill Posey third with 5.5% missed votes.

During Donalds’ second term (2023-2025), he missed 7.2% of all votes, placing him 47th among all members in the U.S. House. The Florida members of Congress with the highest percentage of missed votes in that term were led by Republican Anna Paulina Luna at 16% (part of her absences were due to having problems before and after a pregnancy that led to her doctor prohibiting her from traveling), and Republicans Mike Waltz at 10.3% and Greg Steube at 10.2%.

Speaking of Luna, Renner referenced the Pinellas County Republican U.S. Representative’s discharge position to force a vote on congressional stock trading ban.

“Why is that so hard to do, and why don’t we have enough Republicans — including my opponent — who have not signed on to stop making money while you’re in office from inside information that only you are aware of, as a Congressman?” he said.

“That is not okay, and so we’re going to make sure we put that to rest. We don’t have that, thankfully, in Tallahassee, but we cannot have people who care more about themselves coming in to lead our state. We need people that are putting other people first, put Florida first, and that’s what I’ll do when I’m Governor.”

Donalds fires back

The Donalds campaign sent the Phoenix a statement when asked to respond to Renner’s comments.

“Byron Donalds is the only candidate who has voted with President Trump to provide record tax relief for families and seniors, shut down the border, deport criminal illegals, protect our national security, and Make America Great Again,” said Ryan Smith, chief strategist for the campaign.

“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.”

Talking about his stance on crime, the former Broward County prosecutor touted 2023 legislation that expanded the state’s death penalty to include suspects who rape children younger than 12 years old. That law will likely be challenged, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that sentencing a defendant to death for any crime other than homicide or crimes against the state is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.

Regarding the death penalty, Renner noted that some of the individuals who have been executed this year in the state of Florida had been on death row for nearly four decades, which he said was unacceptable.

“I am sick and tired of seeing the family members grow old and die and never see justice,” he said.

“When I’m Governor, we’re going to shorten that under Marsy’s law. That should be no more — and I hope less than this — but no more than five years for capital felonies and two years for non-capital felonies. Make your case. Make your arguments. Stop playing games, and once that happens, we’re going to execute you as you should be. Don’t touch our kids. Don’t kill our men and women or you will be put to death in the state of Florida.”

(According to Marsy’s Law, all state-level appeals and collateral attacks on any judgment must be complete within two years of the date of appeal in non-capital cases and within five years from the date of appeal in capital cases, unless a court enters an order with specific findings as to why the court was unable to comply with this provision and the circumstances causing the delay).

Speaking about illegal immigration, Renner said immigration “should be like adopting into a family.”

Although immigration was controversial when Italians and Irish immigrated to America, they were able to assimilate into the country because “they were Christian. They shared our western values,” Renner said.

Now, he asserted, there are “Islamists who refuse to assimilate and have no intention of assimilating. And what they want is to get to a point of dominance and force us to assimilate to them.”

He went on to applaud DeSantis for his executive order last week declaring the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) “as the terrorist organizations that they are.”

CAIR-Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court against DeSantis on Monday for issuing that executive order, claiming that it is unconstitutional.

Renner worked closely with DeSantis during his tenure as House Speaker to enact their shared agenda during the 2023 and 2024 Legislative Sessions, and he traveled to frigid Iowa in January 2024 to campaign for the Governor just ahead of the presidential caucus that year. Despite that support, DeSantis has been dismissive of his candidacy, saying in September, “I’m not supporting Paul Renner,” adding that it was “ill-advised” that he entered the race.

DeSantis has yet to back any Republican in the contest to succeed him next year.

___

Reporting by Mitch Perry. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].