Colin Hackley/File
Former House Speaker Paul Renner is staring up at U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, James Fishback, and even Lt. Gov. Jay Collins in most polling of the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But he’s confident that public opinion surveys don’t sync up with what he’s seeing as he travels the state making his case to Republican voters ahead of the August Primary.
“If you look at the grassroots, it tells a whole different story. The straw polls that have been coming out show us beating them two to one,” Renner said on “Clay and Buck” Friday, answering a question about Donalds specifically.
Renner believes those straw polls represent “the people that are actually focused on this race” who “look at these issues of who’s the leader, who has leadership experience, who’s shown up on mission and delivered results.”
The Palm Coast Republican has touted DeSantis’ praise of his record advancing conservative priorities when he led the House, and he did so again on Friday’s show.
“I delivered more than anybody that’s ever led the Legislature here in Florida. The Governor said so,” Renner contended, referring to a DeSantis aside during a radio interview back in January.
DeSantis had previously said Renner was ill-advised to run to replace him.
Renner has pointed to straw polls as a sign of life, saying that if he can get a “fair comparison” with Donalds, a Congressman from Naples backed by President Donald Trump, he can capitalize on “resistance to the so-called front-runner.“
Renner is running in fourth place in various public polls of the race, even as he touts favorable straw numbers from gatherings of party activists.
He’s at 2% in one from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, which puts him 52 points behind Donalds. He is also at 2% in a poll posted by The Floridian, the content of which appears to align with an internal survey referred to recently by Collins.
Renner’s fundraising isn’t matching his spending at this point, with donors giving his effort roughly $800,000 in the first three months of 2026.
Unprompted, he defended his burn rate Friday, contrasting his campaign to unnamed others who “hoard their money.”
Donalds and Collins both had stronger quarters of fundraising than Renner through March 31. Collins doubled Renner’s haul, and Donalds raised $22 million. Renner did outraise Fishback at least.
–A.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics
Pogo says
Renner must have seen as many panhandlers as the rest of us — and he still ain’t feeling this?
Sad, but nothing compared to trump’s final reward: less than nothing — much more than trump deserves.