Florida
Florida governor candidate Fishback talks housing, abortion, Israel
Fishback is among 42 candidates running to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis.
VERO BEACH — Over 100 people, mostly young men, packed a conference room the evening of April 11 at the Ocean Breeze Inn on Ocean Drive to hear James Fishback speak.
The 31-year-old who has never held political office is one of 42 candidates running to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cannot seek reelection because of term limits.
As soon as he took the podium, the Republican gubernatorial hopeful took jabs at the leading Republican candidate, Byron Donalds, who has the support of President Donald Trump.
He rattled off nicknames for Donalds, who is Black, including “By’rone Donalds” and “AIPAC Shakur” — a play on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and rapper Tupac Shakur.
Many in the mostly White crowd responded in laughter.
“If you want a data center in Vero Beach, Byron Donalds is your guy. If you want to stand up for cattle ranchers and citrus growers, I’d like to think I’m your man,” he said.
Emerson College polling shows Fishback is trailing with 5% support among Florida Republicans. He is getting national attention from young conservatives and far-right groups, including his January appearance on conservative political activist and commentator Tucker Carlson’s podcast. Carlson endorsed him.
Candidate qualifying in Florida begins June 8. The primary election is Aug. 18.
Florida’s affordability crisis
Audience members most frequently asked Fishback about the state’s affordability crisis, given Florida’s rising cost of living and some of the lowest wages in the country.
Fishback said his primary strategy would be to ban private equity firms from buying single-family homes.
If elected governor, he said he would not prioritize growth over quality of life, harkening back to the 1980s, when Florida was less developed.
“I will never worship GDP (gross domestic product),” he said. “But as a Christian, I will worship G-O-D.”
Education, abortion and guns
As for teachers, Fishback proposed an increase in pay but wanted to limit classroom discussions of race and gender identity.
Fishback said abortion laws in Florida were too lax, and he pledged to provide paid maternity leave for every woman in Florida as a way to reduce the procedure.
On firearms, he said he would lower the minimum purchasing age from 21 to 18.
“The tragedy of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, and the killing of 17 souls by a sick, depraved man should have never been used as a pretext to disarm millions of 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds.”
The crowd erupted in its loudest applause of the evening.
Fishback’s thoughts on Israel
When an audience member asked about his thoughts on Israel, some members of the audience chuckled.
He said he does not “hate Israel or any country in the world.”
“Right now, our cup is not full, and we should not be in the business of filling up the cup for anyone else,” he said.
Who is James Fishback?
Fishback was born in Davie, a town in western Broward County.
His mother immigrated from Colombia, and his father owned a landscaping business and later became a bus driver. Fishback attended Georgetown University to study international economics, but dropped out sophomore year.
Before entering politics, Fishback worked at the hedge fund Greenlight Capital from 2021 to 2023. He said he had been the “head of macro,” but the firm said the highest role he obtained was a research analyst.
After Greenlight disputed Fishback’s title and accused him of sharing confidential portfolio information, the hedge fund sought to fire Fishback for low productivity, but he abruptly resigned, court records show.
He founded an investment management firm called Azoria Partners in 2023, which ran into legal trouble last year when a judge ordered him to turn over company stock and a list of luxury purchases.
Fishback also claimed to be an advisor for the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but its officials denied he had any role, Katie Miller, a spokesperson for DOGE head Elon Musk told ABC News.
Most recently, a viral video shows Fishback telling a Black man he “should be lynched” during an argument at the University of North Florida.
Jack Lemnus is a TCPalm enterprise reporter. Contact him at jack.lemnus@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1345, or follow him on X @JackLemnus.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A Florida gunman allegedly hunted down a family on the road, firing into their SUV with a child inside in a miles-long road rage fueled pursuit.
Deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office say they responded to a 911 call at 3:14 p.m. Wednesday near Highway 92 and Wiggins Road, where a man, later identified as 33-year-old Nicolas Totherow, was reportedly following a family in an SUV and firing at them.
According to an HCSO news release, the caller told dispatch that one of the four people in the vehicle was a child and stayed on the line as the situation unfolded. Investigators say Totherow continued following the family northbound on Park Road before both vehicles entered Interstate 4. He allegedly kept firing as the pursuit moved eastbound on I-4, ending when the victims exited at County Line Road.
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The victims were located shortly after and confirmed that their vehicle had been struck multiple times by gunfire, shattering the windshield, rear window, and even reporting that one bullet had gone through the seat where they child was located.
At 6 p.m., deputies say they located Totherow through investigative efforts, recovered his firearm, and took him in custody. During an interview, he allegedly admitted to firing multiple rounds at the victims’ vehicle and stated he intended to kill the driver.
Totherow was subsequently booked into Hillsborough County Jail for counts of:
- Attempted Murder in the First Degree Premeditated Firearm – Discharge
- Aggravated Battery Great Bodily Harm Firearm – Discharge (x4)
- Discharge Firearm from a Vehicle
- Shooting at Within or Into a Vehicle
- Armed Possession of Controlled Substance
- Driving While License Canceled, Suspended, or Revoked
“This reckless and violent behavior put multiple innocent lives at risk on our roadways,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Thanks to the quick actions of our Communications Center and the coordinated response of our deputies and detectives, this suspect was taken into custody before anyone was killed. We will not tolerate violence in our community.”
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (1)
The investigation is ongoing, anyone with information is urged to contact HCSO at 813-247-8200.
Army Corps and St. Lucie County spent $15 million on placing new sand on Fort Pierce Jetty Park beach.
The Army Corps of Engineers and St. Lucie County are working on a new solution to fix Florida’s most-eroded beach.
Here are 5 things to know about the T-groin project:
- They plan to place a half-dozen T-groins at the Fort Pierce Jetty Park beach by 2030.
- T-groins are designed to reduce wave energy and trap sand, but the county did not cite any data or studies that prove they will work.
- The groins, which are typically like rock jetties, will run perpendicular from the dune line with the T part in the ocean.
- The Army Corps said the two biological opinions it received “resolved” the state’s environmental concerns about sea turtle nesting and other impacts, so the project is moving forward.
- The Army Corps and county plan to split the $900,000 cost.
Fixing Florida’s most-eroded beach in Fort Pierce
Fort Pierce Jetty Park costs taxpayers about $15 million every two years for beach restoration projects to replace lost sand, the Army Corps said during an April 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony for its latest effort. St. Lucie County officials hope the T-groins will reduce the need to add new sand to every four years instead of every two year.
Sand has been placed at the Jetty Park beach 14 times since 1971, said Joshua Revord, St. Lucie County Department of Port, Inlet & Beaches director.
The current project, expected to be complete by mid-May, is placing 400,000 cubic yards of sand on a one-mile stretch from the jetty south, according to Col. Brandon Bowman.
Tim O’Hara is TCPalm’s environment reporter. Contact him at tim.ohara@tcpalm.com.
Tallahassee State College’s District Board of Trustees is keeping three of its current members after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent reappointments.
TSC board chair and longtime member Eugene Lamb as well as trustees Karen Moore and Sara Bayliss will remain on the college’s board after being reappointed by the governor May 1.
At the same time, Moore was reappointed to the board by DeSantis less than five months ago in December 2025 during the same time of Bayliss’ initial appointment. Trustees are usually appointed to four-year terms at a time before being considered for reappointment. The timing of the reappointments is unclear, a TSC spokesperson said.
Moore’s reappointment comes after she has served as a trustee at TSC since 2007 when she was first appointed by former Gov. Charlie Crist followed by reappointments by former Gov. Rick Scott and DeSantis.
The CEO and founder of The Moore Agency currently serves as chair of the Florida College System Foundation Board of Directors and is a member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She is also founder and chair at Tallahassee Collegiate Academy (TCA), which is the college’s STEM-based charter school on its campus.
Bayliss is a college admissions advisor at St. John Paul II Catholic High School in Tallahassee and a counselor at Game Plan College Admissions Counseling. The Florida State University alumna earned her bachelor’s degree in management information systems and French from the University of Iowa and her master’s degree in business administration from FSU.
Regarding Lamb’s reappointment, it comes as he is currently serving in his fifth non-consecutive term as chair of the board. Lamb, a Midway native and army veteran who had a 33-year career of working with youth as a teacher and coach, first joined the college’s board in 2007 after being appointed by Crist. Since then, he has been reappointed to five consecutive terms by Scott and DeSantis.
In addition, Lamb – who’s well known and celebrated by the TSC community for laying bricks for the first buildings on the college campus as a young man – was named Trustee of the Year in 2024 by the American Association of Community Colleges, which honored his leadership and service.
All reappointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
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