Paul Renner rips Florida GOP for thwarting gubernatorial debates

Former House Speaker Paul Renner says the Republican Party of Florida is cheating voters out of its opportunity to weigh the merits of candidate for Governor by refusing to stage a debate at the impending Sunshine Showdown event.

He argues that the party is “tipping the scales” in favor of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Donald Trump-endorsed front-runner in the race, after its assertion that only Donalds would have met criteria to qualify for a debate. The criteria: 10% support in the RPOF’s own poll; more than $10 million raised; and more than 10,000 donors

“Are we not the conservative party that believes in free competition so that voters can decide who has the experience, who’s delivered the results, who’s got the vision, who’s led in the fight to build the free state of Florida?”

Renner’s words here are deliberate, echoing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ comments that Donalds wasn’t a part of his administration’s battles against “the left.”

The candidate went further in mirroring the Governor, blasting the state party for discouraging the kinds of independent debates that were routine in statewide Primary races until this cycle.

“What happened to the First Amendment? Now they’re determining what is sanctioned and unsanctioned speech, whether you can come to a candidate forum, whether you can participate in a media-run debate. There have been at least two that have been proposed. What have we become? Are we becoming the Democrat Party?”

That last rhetorical question seems to be a reference to how Democrats shielded President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris from competition in the 2024 cycle as the party wrestled with how to handle a leader who lacked the vitality to run for re-election.

During a press conference Friday, DeSantis criticized the party for discouraging debates.

“You know, the party has a very limited role. (It) really should be a candidate-driven process and not for people to be making decisions who voters have never voted into those positions to begin with. So line up something with TV, line up something, radio, all these different forms. there’s a whole host of ways that you can do,” he said.

In lieu of a formal debate at the event later this month, Renner, Donalds, and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (who wants a one-on-one debate with Donalds) will be allowed to speak to voters, but will not share a stage.

A fourth candidate, James Fishback, is being denied the opportunity to speak for having committed to an “unsanctioned” television debate and for what Chairman Evan Power describes as “antisemitic and racist attacks on members of our party.”