The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) says only U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who鈥檚 been endorsed by President Donald Trump, has met the qualifications for a debate.
Gov. Ron DeSantis disagrees with the decision: "It's counterproductive when you try to engineer an outcome, because you need a coalition of voters to do well, and this may be a tough cycle for Republicans,鈥� he said during a press conference last week.
Then, , he went so far as to accuse Evan Power, the state party chair, of 鈥渋nsulting the intelligence of Republican voters.鈥�
Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor, said it鈥檚 an unusual dynamic, since governors are generally considered the de facto leader of their state parties.
"They don't run it on a day-to-day basis, but they are the person that usually has the most influence, and so the fact that DeSantis is really pushing the party to have this debate at the same time the party's sort of resisting, is sort of an interesting political situation in and of itself,鈥� Jewett said.
In a statement , Donalds鈥� campaign said there's "no participation trophies in politics."
鈥淚t is not Byron鈥檚 job to legitimize campaigns that have failed to gain meaningful support," said Gates McGavick, Donalds' communications director.
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According to the party, the qualifications are having 10% support in RPOF polling, more than $10 million raised and more than 10,000 donors.
Power didn鈥檛 respond to an interview request. On social media, he said, 鈥淲e will be a unified Republican Party ready to take on the radical Jolly/Graham ticket.鈥�
But DeSantis isn鈥檛 the only one speaking up.
So are the other high-profile gubernatorial candidates: Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, investor James Fishback and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner.
鈥淲hat have we become?鈥� Renner said on social media. 鈥淎re we not the conservative party that believes in free competition?鈥�
Listen to my thoughts on the RPOF tipping the scales for Byron Donalds. 馃憞馃徎
— Paul Renner (@Paul_Renner)
Collins said, 鈥淒ebates are not going to be the end all be all for this race. That said, if [Donalds] can鈥檛 show up to one, and if he keeps hiding behind the RPOF, voters need to take notice.鈥�
Couldn鈥檛 agree with our Governor more.
— Jay Collins (@JayCollinsFL)
Let鈥檚 not insult the voters鈥� intelligence.
Debates are not going to be the end all be all for this race.
That said, if can鈥檛 show up to one, and if he keeps hiding behind the RPOF, voters need to take notice.
Fishback showed up at an event for Donalds over the weekend, along with someone dressed as a chicken and others holding signs reading, 鈥淏yron, why don鈥檛 you debate Fishback?鈥�
Remarks made by Fishback, including during that encounter with Donalds, have been criticized by some state Republicans.
For example, Attorney General James Uthmeier Fishback calling Donalds 鈥� who is Black 鈥� a slave was 鈥済ross,鈥� adding, 鈥� I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any room for that in Republican politics.鈥�
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott also Fishback at an event condemning antisemitism on Monday.
There鈥檚 only one high-profile candidate on of the governor鈥檚 race: David Jolly, a now-Democrat but former Republican U.S. representative who chose Gwen Graham as his running mate. Graham's also a former congresswoman and the daughter of the late Bob Graham, the former Florida governor and senator.
If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team .
This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
