The Florida gubernatorial race just got a little more crowded. On Monday morning, Nov, 24, James Fishback announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2026 election.
Fishback, a 30-year-old investment firm CEO who has never held political office, vowed in a video posted to X ahead of his public announcement in Tallahassee to carry on DeSantis’ legacy in a way he said current frontrunner, U.S. Rep Byron Donalds, won’t.
“Congressman Byron Donalds can’t be our next Governor because he won’t fight for Florida like Ron DeSantis has. I will,” he said.
“I’ll fight to preserve Governor DeSantis’ wins by keeping Florida free from DEI (diversity equity and inclusion), radical transgenderism, Soros-backed prosecutors, child predators, voter fraud and the millions of illegals that invaded our country on Kamala Harris’ watch,” Fishback said.
The Madison resident joins the primary race against Donalds (who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump), former House Speaker Paul Renner and six other Republicans, but DeSantis has yet to endorse any of them as a successor. Rumors have swirled this year that the governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, could run, and there are speculations — along with TV commercials touting him — that DeSantis’ Lt. Gov. Jay Collins could step up.
But who is James Fishback?
If Floridians outside Madison know him at all, it’s because he gained momentary fame as the person who suggested to megabillionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump they should issue “DOGE Dividends,” $5,000 payments to working Americans funded by all the money Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would save.
After the idea went viral on social media and both Musk and Trump seemed to sign on, Fishback made numerous media appearances to pitch it before Musk left the White House and the idea faded.
Here’s what to know.
Who is James Fishback?
James Fishback, CEO and co-founder of Azoria Partners, says he intends to run for Florida governor in 2026.
A 4th-generation Floridian, Fishback was born on New Year’s Day in Davie to a Colombian immigrant and a tree-trimmer Fishback said lost his business because of foreign workers who “broke the law to come into the country” and were paid less. His father later went on to become a bus driver.
Fishback went to public schools in Florida before attending Georgetown University. He dropped out at the age of 21 to start his own hedge fund, Macrovoyant, and worked as a consultant to New York fund Greenlight Capital before joining the firm in 2021.
He worked for 2½ years at Greenlight Capital but left to form his own company, Azoria Partners LLC.
Fishback, who says he was a high school debate champion, also formed Incubate Debate, a free anti-woke debate league for thousands of Florida students. Incubate Debate was acquired last year by the conservative Koch family’s Bill of Rights Institute.
Fishback accused of exaggerating position, sharing confidential information
Fishback sued Greenlight Capital for defamation after he left the company, claiming they “maliciously defamed” him to potential investors who called for references by denying he served in the position of “head of macro,” according to MarketWatch.
Greenlight Capital said they had never had such a title at the company and countersued in March 2024, saying he breached an agreement to stop telling people he had been anything other than a research analyst.
“Fishback apparently thought this would provide him and Azoria with more credibility and help attract investors at Greenlight’s expense,” the lawsuit claimed, adding that the firm decided to fire him in 2023 due to low productivity, but he resigned first. The case inspired a rash of “head of macro” memes in the hedge fund community on social media.
The lawsuit also claimed Fishback attempted to use the firm’s charity gift-matching program to send $10,000 to his debate program.
Greenlight Capital sued Fishback again in 2024 over two promissory notes the company held against him, according to Bloomberg. A judge in March ordered him to pay nearly $230,000.
In September, Fishback admitted to sharing confidential company information with people outside the firm at least 33 times, maintaining an undisclosed personal trading account, and engaging a college student in a campaign to discredit Greenlight’s founder, David Einhorn, according to a joint court filing from the company and Fishback. Fishback agreed to return any confidential information in his possession, delete any copies and pay legal costs, the filing said.
The filing did not mention Fishback’s former job title at the firm.
Has James Fishback run for office? His rise in politics
Fishback has never held or run for office, but he has made himself known in political circles.
After meeting businessman and 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Fishback reportedly kept showing up to Ramaswamy’s campaign events uninvited, ABC News reported. The relationship soured when Ramaswamy’s campaign ended and Fishback criticized Ramaswamy over his support for H-1B visas, which allow companies to hire foreign workers skilled in specific occupations.
Early this year, Fishback began appearing on conservative media outlets labeled as a “DOGE advisor” and commenting on DOGE plans. When Musk shared his suggestion for $5,000 “DOGE Dividends,” he appeared more frequently, but he told conservative news outlet Breitbart that he left DOGE at the end of May or early June when Musk and Trump began feuding.
“Multiple senior officials who worked for DOGE, both before its official establishment in January and after, told ABC News that Fishback never held any official or informal role advising Musk or the DOGE team, and that he was inflating his connection to the group,” ABC News said, adding that a former senior DOGE official told the news site that the idea was “laughable.”
In August, when Trump was feuding with the Federal Reserve, Fishback began flooding his advisors and Trump himself with an offer to be Trump’s “bulldog” on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, ABC News reported. Trump instead named Stephen Miran, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, to the position.
Fishback wins case against protection injunction
Florida Politics reported that a former executive director at Incubate Debate, Keinah Fort, accused Fishback of stalking and requested protection.
Fishback won in the case, although there were several hearings “discussing Fishback’s alleged history of domestic violence,” Florida Politics reported.
What are Fishback’s positions?
Fishback said in his announcement Monday that his two main planks are anti-immigration, including H-1B visas, and affordability.
“If you can’t buy a home, you can’t get married. If you can’t get married, you can’t have kids. If you can’t have kids, what is the point?” he said.
Fishback has also said he’d like to eliminate property taxes for homesteaded properties owned by Florida residents.
Mark Harper, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: James Fishback running for Florida governor. Who he is
