Fishback sets three conditions for endorsing Donalds

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(The Center Square) – Former gubernatorial candidate James Fishback is withholding his endorsement of Byron Donalds, but said he would offer his support if three conditions are met.

Fishback said he would endorse Donalds if the candidate pledges to end the use of Flock cameras, eliminate the use of H-1B foreign workers by state agencies and contractors to protect Florida jobs and sign into law a statewide pause on hyperscale data centers.

He explained his reason for withholding his support from Donalds thus far.

“His choice to attack the nearly 200,000 Floridians who supported our campaign does not help Republicans win on November 3rd,” said Fishback. “It was disappointing to see Byron Donalds nod along as Florida Republicans were called racists in an interview with Politico last week, and especially disappointing to see Donalds tell that same interviewer, ‘I don’t care,’ in response to being told that ‘1 in 10 voters came out for Fishback.’”

Donalds defended the statement, explaining there was more to it.

“What I actually said was: I don’t care who you voted for in the primary,” said Donalds. “I want to earn the vote of every Floridian. I care about making Florida less expensive, and I care about making sure that young people in this state can buy a home and start a family. That’s why I’m running for Governor. Make no mistake: Liberal David Jolly and the radical Democrats will make life harder for young people and make it harder to get ahead.”

Fishback garnered 10% of the vote during the Republican primary, gaining 173,575 votes.

“I want to be clear: I want good conservatives to win on November 3rd. That’s why I’ve already endorsed 9 Republicans, have assembled hundreds of volunteers to help Republican campaigns statewide, and am personally door knocking for conservative candidates throughout Florida,” Fishback said.

Donalds’ stance on Flock cameras is hard to nail down, but he has said that “The Fourth Amendment is not up for debate.”

On data centers, Donalds says he believes in local control and ensuring bills don’t go up for other customers and that water is protected but does not outright oppose data center development.

He said he supports the law Gov. Ron DeSantis signed this year that set regulations for large-scale data centers.

“Local governments will make the zoning and permitting decisions about a data center. We will leave that in the hands of local government. It is up to them what they want to see happen in their counties and we are going to continue to support that law,” said Donalds.