TAMPA – Florida has been one of the fastest growing states in the country over the past five years. Now the newest entrant to the 2026 Republican gubernatorial race says it’s time to focus less on bringing in new people and more on improving the lives of those who already live here.
“Stop inviting the whole country and the whole world to live here,” James Fishback told a packed crowd during the Tampa Bay Young Republicans monthly meeting Monday night in Tampa, admonishing U.S. Sen. Rick Scott’s paid aerial banners that flew over New York City this past summer that read, “Hate socialism? Us too! Move to FL.”
“Sen. Scott, we are full. We are done,” Fishback said.
Fishback has been in the race for a little more than a week officially but has already drawn substantial criticism from Republican Party of Florida establishment figures who say he shouldn’t be there.
“Tallahassee’s having a full blown meltdown,” he said. “The calls I’ve gotten. The attacks that I’ve gotten. All the way to the White House. Don’t do this. Drop out.”
He wants to end the H-1B visa program
A CEO with the startup asset management firm Azoria Partners, Fishback grew up in Broward County and now resides in Madison County in North Florida. The 30-year-old political newcomer (who turns 31 on New Year’s Day) has come out as a hardline immigration critic who has vowed to “fire every H-1B” employee working at state agencies and cut contracts with companies hiring visa holders.
“America is for Americans,” he declared during his opening 20-minute speech. “The brave thing for our brothers and sisters in Haiti or Brazil or Mexico or India or China – the brave thing for them to do is stay right where they are. Make their country great. The brave thing to do is not to come here on a H-1B and take a job from one of us. “
H-1B visas allow immigrants to work temporarily in the U.S. in specialty jobs, and President Donald Trump has supported increasing the number of those visas to allow entry by high-skilled workers. But there’s been backlash from “America First” conservatives, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in late October that he was directing the state Board of Governors to prevent state universities from hiring foreign specialty workers.
Fishback said Monday that he was going to expand on DeSantis’ move, saying, “Every single foreign worker who has stolen a job from us will be relieved of their duties from state government by the time that the sun sets on my first day in office.”
“They’re gone,” he proclaimed.
Fishback says he wishes the governor was running for a third term (DeSantis is term-limited in 2026).
But he also is pushing hard on the affordability crisis in Florida. He said it doesn’t matter if the stock market had doubled recently in light of the high costs of groceries, property tax bills, auto insurance, and energy.
“I’ve said I’m going to stop construction of any A.I. data center that threatens to jack up our electric bills,” he said. “It’s just common sense. The idea that we have to pay the costs, have to shoulder the burdens of what others are doing, there’s a word for that. It’s called socialism.”
Can he compete with Byron Donalds?
Fishback’s entry in the Republican race for governor comes as Byron Donalds continues to dominate in public opinion polls, boosted by the early backing of Donald Trump. The Southwest Florida U.S. representative has raised more $30 million to date, dwarfing the totals of every other candidate from either party who has entered the contest.
Fishback told the Young Republicans that they “gotta respect” the work that Donalds has done for Floridians since he was elected to serve in the state House in 2016 and Congress in 2020. At another point, he called him a “great guy” and a “great father.” They met for three hours in August, he noted.
But he insists the two “have disagreements that are irreconcilable.”
When asked by a member of the audience what he could do to “separate” himself from Donalds, Fishback became uncharacteristically reticent, saying simply, “You do it by showing up.”
Fishback was somewhat dismissive of Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who has seemingly been on the verge of announcing his own candidacy for governor for the past several months but has yet to pull the trigger. Fishback said he was frustrated that, while still serving in the Florida Senate, Collins had sponsored legislation that would have shielded pesticide companies immunity from so-called “frivolous” lawsuits. “
“A corporate system is a business that has immunity,” he said. “That is wrong. That is un-American. I’m always going to stand up for workers. I’m never going to allow any type of immunity.”
Anti-AIPAC
As part of his “America First” platform, Fishback said, he won’t take financial contributions from any organization “affiliated with a foreign country,” emphasizing that includes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC.
Florida GOP U.S. Rep. Randy Fine has labelled Fishback a “total weirdo” and a “neo-Nazi.” Fishback said on Monday that he disavows all forms of hatred but wasn’t going to apologize for any of his stances, nor play “this game that you’re a racist. You’re Islamophobic. You’re antisemitic. Enough. Floridians have a right to exist in their own state. I’m not bending the knee to anyone.”
Audience questions
Things got spicier as the evening wore on.
When a woman who described herself as a “recovering liberal” and current university instructor asked how Fishback would hold public universities accountable if they had rewritten DEI initiatives into something more palatable in the existing political environment, the candidate declared that, if elected, he would direct “every single university bureaucrat” to be interviewed by a member of his team to ask them “simple questions,” such as what was their reaction was to the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk.
“If they use the words ‘contextualize,’ ‘gun rights, ‘He had it coming.’ — They’re out. And then guess what? Let ’em sue,” he said. “That’s how you actually eradicate an ideology.”
Fishback has never run for public office, nor voted in a GOP primary in Florida. That lack of involvement and experience was called out by Werther Marciales, policy director for the Florida Young Republicans, who asked: “Why should we trust you?”
Fishback responded that had he known he would ever run for office, he “probably” would have voted in some primaries. “I would have done things a lot differently,” he acknowledged.
But Marciales wasn’t placated. He referenced a lawsuit filed in 2024 by Fishback’s former employer, Greenlight Capital and DME Capital Management, alleging he had misrepresented his position in the company to gain credibility for his own Azoria Partners. In September, Fishback acknowledged sharing confidential information and agreed to pay the hedge fund’s costs to resolve the lawsuit, according to Bloomberg.
When Marciales asked Fishback why his former employer sued him, Fishback said he would be happy to speak to him in private afterwards.
“No, why don’t you answer it here? Because you’re running for governor and I think people deserve to know,” Marciales said.
That led to shouts from the opposite side of the room, with one voice accusing Marciales of being “an attack dog” and another saying, “It’s not about you, dude!” before everyone moved on.
Despite that confrontation, some audience members told the Phoenix they agreed with many of Fishback’s stances, and bemoaned the fact that Trump has already weighed in on behalf of Donalds.
“The biggest thing I like about him is his message on H1-B’s and immigration. I think that’s probably the biggest thing that got Trump elected in the last election and it’s a huge topic for Americans, mostly young Americans,” said one audience member, who declined to provide his name.
“I think the race is wide open,” he added. “It’s early. A lot of things will come out. I like that Fishback’s oppo research is already dropping. He’s saying the right things. “
“I hated that the president came out and supported Donalds so quick, well before the election took place,” said another man who asked to be identified as Tim from Tampa. “There’s a lot of people trying to attack James in saying that he shouldn’t run, and that was just a huge red flag to me. Why shouldn’t he be running? It’s an election. It’s a democracy. It shouldn’t be just that ‘Oh, just because the president endorsed somebody, hey, nobody else is allowed to run.’ “
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: info@floridaphoenix.com.
