A.G. Gancarski
A former House Speaker is on the verge of jumping into the race for Florida Governor.
On Thursday, Florida Politics asked someone familiar with Paul Renner’s planning about a timeline for a potential launch.
Their response? “Give him a week.”
Renner stoked renewed speculation about a 2026 run with an invite to a “meet and greet” on Sept. 17 at the Santa Maria Mansion. The flyer advises that he “discusses next year’s Florida Governor’s race” at the event while outlining his “vision for Florida’s future.”
Those familiar with the evolution of campaigns don’t need a translation to figure out what those code words mean.
Renner represented Palm Coast for eight years after previously losing a nail-biter Special Election for a seat in Jacksonville. Since he left office, speculation has swirled about his next move. Ahead of his appointment in February to the State University System Board of Governors, he supposedly had preliminary discussions about becoming the next President of the University of Florida.
We contacted Renner Thursday to ask him about the flyer and the imminent announcement. He said that while he was “happy to connect,” he is “slammed today.”
In other words, he’s not denying anything.
When we asked Renner this Summer about running after Liv Caputo at The Floridian broke the news that he was considering a bid, he likewise was coy. He said he had “nothing to announce” then, but acknowledged that “people have asked me to consider running.”
Ultimately, it will be interesting to see which people want Renner in a race where there is a very defined Donald Trump lane in the form of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, and a still-evolving lane closer to the Governor’s Office that could see Lt. Gov. Jay Collins or First Lady Casey DeSantis run.
Donalds, a Naples Republican who served in the Florida House when Renner was there, has the clearest path to the nomination. He has raised nearly $23 million in his eponymous Friends of Byron Donalds political committee, with close to $2 million more already deposited into his campaign account.
