Gubernatorial candidate James Fishback has been registered to vote in two states since around 2020. While he never cast a ballot in both states in the same year, the issue raises questions about whether the Madison Republican meets eligibility requirements for Governor.

The 30-year-old has been registered to vote in Florida since 2012. He transferred his residence from Davie in Broward County to Madison County in 2023, according to the Madison County Supervisor of Elections Office.

But the D.C. Board of Elections confirms Fishback remains an active voter in Washington, where he registered in 2020.

That could complicate Fishback’s campaign for Governor, which he launched last month. Florida’s eligibility requirements for Governor require candidates to be registered to vote in Florida and to be residents of the state for at least seven years.

Of note, state law also requires a candidate for partisan office to be a registered member of the party for 365 days before an election. While Fishback is registered as a Republican in Florida, he is registered without party affiliation in Washington.

Fishback dismissed concerns about his eligibility to run for the GOP nomination for Governor.

“I’m a fourth generation Floridian and have lived here my entire life, and meet all of the constitutional requirements to serve as Governor if the voters entrust me with this awesome responsibility,” he said in a text to Florida Politics.

But despite being a Florida native, Fishback’s residency could be called into question. Fishback owns a property in Washington on 42nd Street, and records show he claimed a homestead exemption on it.

That’s notably a different address than the Davis Place residence where he is registered to vote. That property is owned by Aydee Fishback, according to Washington records, and Florida records show Jay Fishback as a primary owner of the Washington property.

James Fishback is the primary owner of a Pinkney Street home in Madison on property he purchased in 2022, according to Madison County property records. No homestead exemption is held on that property.

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Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.

With eight proposals on eliminating or cutting property taxes moving through the House and Gov. Ron DeSantis maintaining that none go far enough, many are looking more and more to the Senate for signs of what, if any, change could be coming.

As he’s done in months past, Senate President Ben Albritton is advocating for a cautious, unhurried approach.

“Honest to goodness, we’re still measuring,” Albritton told reporters Monday. “We’ve looked at the House proposals, and every one of those has a certain amount of cost to it and a certain amount of impact to Floridians.”

Albritton said that while the Senate is committed to delivering financial relief to Floridians in the form of property tax cuts or rollbacks, he and others in the chamber are cognizant that many core services at the local level stand to be adversely affected if it’s done carelessly.

“Every Floridian … depends on the fact that if they call 911, somebody comes to their place, somebody comes to help them,” he said. “We’ve got to be thoughtful about that.”

Asked whether the Governor has unilateral authority to redistribute funds derived from well-to-do counties like Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Orange to 29 fiscally constrained, mostly rural counties — as DeSantis has proposed doing — Albritton’s answer was more definitive: “No.”

“The Florida Legislature (is) given the power to appropriate. The Governor is certainly the chief executive. He has the ability to veto or be supportive. He has, I would say, the ability and the opportunity to be able to share perspective in his budget request and when he lays out the budget,” he said.

“The opportunity to backfill lies in the Legislature.”

On the idea of cash-strapped counties asking the state for funding annually that they’d otherwise generate locally, Albritton said it’s “certainly a concern.”

“Do I love the idea? Of course not,” he said. “But I (believe) affordability is a challenge, and providing some relief in the property tax space is a great way to do that, and especially for (homesteaded) Floridians … that’s great.”

Albritton pushed back on the idea that eliminating property taxes would lead to a “gold rush” of wealthy transplants to the Sunshine State, stressing that he is “optimistic” about the prospect despite its potentially negative effects.

“But it’s not that simple,” he said. “And that’s one of the things that I’m finding in that here again: Don’t take down a fence until you know why it was put up.”