Republican front-runner Byron Donalds challenged leading Democratic candidate David Jolly to three general-election debates this fall, even as Donalds continues facing three opponents for the GOP nomination ahead of Florida's Aug. 18 primary. Jolly, a former Republican congressman now running as a Democrat, initially told Donalds to survive his own primary first but later said he would meet Donalds on the debate stage.
The exchange gave Donalds' Republican opponents another opportunity to criticize the front-runner for looking beyond them. Donalds has not debated his primary rivals while maintaining sizable advantages in polling, fundraising and endorsements. A recent Cygnal survey showed Donalds at 43%, compared with 12% for businessman James Fishback, 11% for Lt.
Jay Collins and 2% for former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner. A separate University of North Florida poll showed Donalds leading Jolly 46% to 41% among likely midterm voters, with a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
Fishback spent much of Tuesday defending his place on the Republican primary ballot during a one-day hearing in Leon County. Collins is asking a judge to disqualify Fishback, arguing his Washington, D.C., voting, tax, mortgage and homestead records show he failed to meet the Florida Constitution's requirement that a governor reside in the state for the preceding seven years.
Collins' attorneys presented records showing Fishback registered and voted in Washington in 2020, listed D.C. addresses on tax documents and signed mortgage paperwork identifying a condominium there as his principal residence. Fishback acknowledged voting in Washington but testified that he never intended to abandon Florida as his permanent home. Fishback said he arrived at a polling place with his Florida driver's license and did not understand that he was registering as a Washington voter. He also said he did not closely read mortgage documents identifying the condominium as his primary residence.
Circuit Judge David Frank ordered both sides to submit proposed rulings by Friday and said he expects to issue a decision by 5 p.m. The ruling could determine whether Fishback remains on the Aug. 18 ballot. Meanwhile, Gov.
Ron DeSantis led a state business-development mission through England and Scotland, where he opened Florida's pavilion at the Farnborough International Airshow and announced that Relativity Space plans to expand its operations at Cape Canaveral. The company plans an additional production facility for its Terran R rocket, along with expanded testing and launch infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. State officials say the project could create thousands of jobs by 2034, and Relativity Space is eligible for up to $134 million through Florida's Spaceport Improvement Program.
A new UNF poll showed the state's proposed property-tax amendment may be popular enough to pass, depending on how it is described to voters. The proposal would raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028. The survey initially found 61% support after respondents were told the amendment would reserve property-tax revenue for core public services, narrowly above the 60% approval required for a constitutional amendment.
Support fell 16 points, however, after respondents were told the proposal is estimated to create an approximately $11.8 billion municipal budget shortfall over two years. Three lawsuits challenging the amendment's ballot title and summary argue phrases promising to protect small businesses, ensure fairness and preserve core services amount to political advertising instead of a neutral description. A hearing on the ballot-language challenges is scheduled for July 29 in Leon County.