Ron DeSantis does not want former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner to succeed him as governor, he told a packed crowd Wednesday.
“I’m not supporting Paul Renner,” DeSantis said during a Valrico press conference, hours after the Palm Coast Republican filed for the 2026 governor’s race. Renner will face the only other high-profile Republican in the race, Donald Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.
“I think it was an ill-advised decision to enter the race,” DeSantis added.
His blunt take on the 48-year-old’s candidacy stood in contrast to Renner’s campaign launch earlier Wednesday, when the former House Speaker lauded himself as a top GOP figure who played a key role in advancing DeSantis’s agenda.
“As a legislator and Speaker of the House, I stood with Ron DeSantis to brand our state the Free State of Florida. I’m running for Governor so that when the DeSantis era comes to an end, we can defend our victories and solve the challenges that remain,” Renner said in a press release.
DeSantis doesn’t think so.
Less than a year before the gubernatorial primary, Renner is the second high-profile Republican DeSantis has publicly dismissed in the governor’s race. When Trump endorsed Donalds in February for Florida’s top job, DeSantis accused the three-term member of Congress of missing out on Florida’s “wins” during his tenure in Washington.
Still, Renner remains confident that he can “earn the support” of DeSantis as his campaign continues.
“The governor and I had a fantastic partnership making us the Free State of Florida, and I’m confident I’ll earn his support along the way,” he said in a statement to the Florida Phoenix.
DeSantis has yet to formally announce who he does support as a successor. For months, he juxtaposed Donalds and First Lady Casey DeSantis, touting her as a Rush Limbaugh-approved gubernatorial candidate while hinting that she might run. But those rumors faded to a faint whisper after Hope Florida, a charity championed by the First Lady, was barraged with scandalous financial allegations.
Recent reports suggest that Jay Collins, a former state senator elevated by DeSantis as lieutenant governor, will be DeSantis’ pick as his successor.
Renner’s gubernatorial hopes are not new to DeSantis.
In July, as the Jacksonville attorney was touting his pro-DeSantis record on social media, Renner told the governor he wanted to succeed him. The private conversation came after a brutally long legislative session marked by rare infighting between the governor and top GOP lawmakers, when Renner publicly sided with DeSantis on a controversial insurance revamp bill.
Citing distaste for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the former House Speaker also led the charge to block Santa Ono, a former University of Michigan president, from becoming president of the University of Florida.
A month-and-a-half later, Renner’s plan came to fruition. And evidenced by Wednesday’s pithy public questioning of Renner’s decision making, DeSantis isn’t pleased.
–Livia Caputo, Florida Phoenix
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