ORLANDO, Fla. – Since announcing his bid for Florida governor last month, Paul Renner told News 6 his campaign has received strong support — despite one of his closest political allies calling the move “an ill-advised decision.”
Renner, a Republican from Palm Coast, served as Speaker of the Florida House from 2022 to 2024. During that time, he advanced nearly all of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ legislative priorities, even traveling to Iowa to campaign for DeSantis’ presidential run.
But now, as Renner seeks the governor’s office, the man whose agenda he once carried is not backing him.
“I’m not supporting Paul Renner,” DeSantis said at a press conference last month. “I think it was an ill-advised decision to enter the race.”
In a one-on-one interview, News 6’s Justin Warmoth asked Renner for his reaction.
Warmoth: “As someone who’s been an ally of the governor’s, how’d that make you feel?”
Renner: “Well, it’s not about feelings. Look, you can’t separate the governor’s legacy from mine as Speaker certainly from the legislative standpoint. Eventually, I’m confident he’ll support us either before or after the nomination.”
Warmoth: “Do you know what was behind that at all?”
Renner: “You’d have to ask him.”
Warmoth: “Lt. Gov. Jay Collins is also rumored to run and join this primary. Do you think that has something to do with it?”
Renner: “It could, but you’d have to ask the governor. I’m really focused on telling voters about this background of leadership and getting results and if you’re going to fix tomorrow’s problems, which is what this election will ultimately be about, you want someone who’s fixed yesterday’s problem and taking on the challenges that people say couldn’t be solved and we’ve solved them.”
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Renner has made Florida’s rising cost of living a central theme of his campaign.
He says property taxes in the state have risen 47.5% since 2019, compared to 23% nationwide. Like DeSantis, he wants to see reform and supports possibly eliminating the tax altogether.
“We have places here in Florida that have had astronomical increases in property tax well beyond people’s income to keep up,” Renner said. “Government should never grow faster than our income. Yes, things are more costly for governments as well, but we should make sure that’s going in pace with people’s income, and that’s not the case with property taxes, so we need to roll that back and let people catch up a little bit because they’re getting crushed.”
Renner also played a key role in expanding Florida’s school choice.
Critics of the voucher program say that’s led to a drop in enrollment and, in turn, a drop in funding for public schools, but Renner says that’s a false narrative.
“In my home county of Flagler, they said there are 2,000 students who have disappeared,” he explained. “We ran the numbers and 128 of those were using the scholarship, so it’s really other things. Maybe they’re homeschooling, maybe they moved out, maybe they’ve chosen other paths, but I don’t see that. And for taxpayers, taxpayers pay on average $15,000 per student. The scholarship is only $8,000, so literally if a student is leaving public school — those 128 — and going over to a private school, there’s a huge tax savings.”
Renner is also on board with the state’s immigration policy and the effort to roll back vaccine requirements for children.
“I think it’s a cost-benefit thing for parents,” Renner said about the vaccines. “A parent may say, ‘Look, I want my kids to get the polio vaccine but not the covid vaccine because I’m just a little concerned. Maybe they don’t need it when they’re younger because we didn’t see any effect on younger kids.’ So, I want that decision to be between a pediatrician and a parent having that conversation, not the CDC telling the parent you must do this no matter what.”
Other major candidates running for governor in 2026 include former U.S. Rep. David Jolly (D) and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R), who’s already secured an endorsement from President Donald Trump.