TALLAHASSEE—Gov. Ron DeSantis is not planning on endorsing U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) as his successor anytime soon, saying the congressman's position on a past public safety policy during his time in the Florida House is not in line with his conservative agenda, and he doesn't appear to be any closer to endorsing his Lt. Governor Jay Collins either.
"So you won't probably get involved in the race if Jay gets in," asked Manjarres, prompting Gov. DeSantis to respond with, "Well, we'll see what happens." (VIDEO)
Gov. DeSantis not only hedged on endorsing Collins, but he also all but dismissed the recently announced candidacy of James Fishback.
"Are you going to get involved in that race?" asked The Floridian Publisher Javier Manjarres, prompting DeSantis to say, "We'll see." As for his reasoning, the governor could be playing the waiting game to see who will emerge as the candidate that is in line with DeSantis's political ideology.
The governor, who is term-limited out of office after next year, also criticized Rep. Donalds for allegedly siding with former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on Florida's crusade to eliminate woke ideology, alleging she called it "racist," and it was "cheap" of him to do so.
In addition, Gov. DeSantis slammed Rep. Donalds for his support to reduce Florida's Truth and Sentencing laws, which would have reduced a state law requiring an inmate to serve 85% of his sentence to closer to 60%.
Gov. DeSantis said the bill would have also authorized 8 or 9,000 felons for early release.
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"I think that would cause the crime rate to spike. I killed that as governor. Didn't even make it to my desk," DeSantis said. "And I've had to veto a lot of weak-on-crime bills."
Piling on Donalds, DeSantis jabbed at the congressman after Florida's attempt to revamp its K-12 education system from race, gender, and sexuality topics was criticized by Vice President Harris, particularly due to the state's teaching of African American studies.
Harris called out Florida's slavery section as "revisionist history" during a keynote address in 2023.
Specifically, critics opposed the state's interpretation that slaves somehow "personally benefited" from slavery to develop future skills.
Rep. Donalds has dismissed the governor's notion in the past, saying he only had an issue with that one sentence of Florida's 200-page curriculum, calling it "ridiculous" during a Fox News interview.
"That's really cheap to side with her over the state of Florida, that's fighting woke, that's fighting all that stuff," DeSantis said.
While DeSantis ruled out backing Rep. Donalds for the time being, the governor indicated he had no plans to endorse his successor before the Republican primary, which will take place in August 2026.
That plan also likely rules out Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who has flirted with a gubernatorial run for the past several months. Both Gov. DeSantis and Collins have been political allies for many years.
"I don't get involved in a lot of primaries. You know, when I do it's got to line up," DeSantis said, adding their record as a sticking point. The governor also indicated his rule would stay true even for close friends.
Despite the noncommittal, DeSantis indicated he would support the Republican candidate in the general election.
"Our voters, you know, they expect me to stand for what I've stood for, and I've been very diligent about kind of sticking with that," DeSantis said. Are you able to demonstrate those two criteria? And what's your overall message about the direction that you want to take the state of Florida? So we'll see how it works out."
DeSantis also gave little attention to the new candidate in the race, James Fishback. The 30-year-old investment CEO announced his candidacy last week.
Fishback was recently criticized for referring to Donalds repeatedly referring to Donalds as a "slave" to his donors, special interests, and "tech bros" after his candidacy announcement outside of the Florida Capitol.
The new arrival has also critcized Donalds for past comments about H-1B visas, which allow employers to hire foreign nationals temporarily with a bachelor's degree or equivalent to work in specialty occupations.
"I don't know him, and I haven't really followed him. I mean, I've heard some chatter, but that's just not, not my cup of tea," DeSantis said about the "slave" remark.
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