James Fishback answers questions about his 2026 campaign platform to become Florida’s next Republican governor at the Student Union patio on Wednesday night.
Phillip Mora Howard
Hundreds of students crowded the Student Union Patio on Wednesday night to hear Florida politician James Fishback promote his 2026 election campaign to become the state’s next Republican governor.
UCF’s chapter of Turning Point USA shared a post on X about the organization’s spontaneous meeting in the Student Union’s Charge on Chamber at 7:30 p.m., followed by the words, “We have a special guest tonight.”
Not long after, Fishback reposted it, placing “special guest” in quotations and accompanying it with looking eyes and monkey hiding emojis.
“Special guest”
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) February 4, 2026
As Fishback approached the patio outside the Student Union building around 8:05 p.m., he was met with a crowd of over 100 people applauding him and chanting his name. His team decided to host the meeting outside the building, as Turning Point does not host political candidates for campaign purposes.
Standing on a make-shift stage, Fishback highlighted the purpose of his visit on campus: To make life easier and affordable for students after they graduate. He said that this means they can get a great-paying job, buy a home, get married, have kids, raise a family and eventually retire.
“This is not about left versus right, it’s about right versus wrong, good versus evil,” Fishback said. “It is evil to take our money and give it to Israel; that is evil.”
“I do not have political experience, but what I have is business experience,” he added.
Fishback then described to students a few goals of his platform, including eliminating all tolls for Florida residents, banning all non-citizens from buying single-family homes and defending the state’s water and soil.
Joseph Young, a junior advertising and public relations major, was one of the students who gathered at the meeting.
“He is the voice of change, voice of the younger generation,” Young said. “I’m not down with everything he says — sometimes he makes me cringe. I am able to look past that, and I think he is genuine. I think out of all the politicians in the race right now, he’s with the people.”
Young said that the crowd cheered the loudest when Fishback emphasized his interest in lowering the price threshold for new homeowners.
Fishback said that “once he is elected as governor,” he would be granting $10,000 to new couples who buy their first home. He said that he wants to support them afford significant financial dues from property taxes, homeowners’ associations and more.
He encouraged students to register for the Republican Party before July 20, asking people to “show up” for the primary election on Aug. 18 to “hire” him.
“I’m not here to ask you for your vote,” Fishback said. “I’m here to ask you to hire me.”
However, not everyone was happy with his campus visit. Numerous comments on the X post announcing his appearance asked why he was allowed to be there, with one commenting on his “history of being aggressive with women.”
Fishback has also received substantial criticism from Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, who said Fishback has made “racist” comments to a Republican opponent, Bryon Donalds, who is Black.
“James Fishback is a formidable Republican candidate for Governor. His undisguised racist comments describing a Black candidate’s vision as ‘Section 8 ghetto’ and referring to Byron Donalds as ‘By’rone’ and a ‘slave’ are deliberate, offensive and beneath this state,” Jolly said, as reported by Florida Politics.
Once the applause settled after Fishback shared the pillars of his platform, people in the crowd began asking him questions. They ranged from reallocating the current tax revenue to how he would prevent the spread of a potential virus to what his Raising Cane’s order is.
Jesse Owen, a local business owner in the UCF area, said he attended the meeting to learn more about Fishback’s campaign. Owen said that since he follows Fishback on X, he wanted to see if he was as genuine in person as he seems online.
“He was familiar with the doctrine of the lesser magistrate and that he plans on doing everything he can in his power to protect and help business owners like me be able to charge a livable wage,” Owen said.
Once Fishback wrapped up around 9:17 p.m., he was followed by people from the crowd, who wanted to take pictures and ask questions as he was leaving.
The full livestream of Fishback’s speech at UCF can be found on his X.