controversial past<\/a>, Floridian and elementary school teacher Abigail Price said, \u201ceveryone deserves a second chance\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat I like about [Fishback] is he seems real, he speaks to us like we\u2019re people, and he\u2019s honest, he seems like he wants to help us,\u201d Price said. \u201cSo I think, even if those things were true, he is clearly changing and growing every day for this position as governor and for the Florida people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Georgia native Lincoln Porter shared a similar sentiment, calling Fishback\u2019s ideals \u201crefreshing\u201d for a politician and noting that the candidate has never served in elected office.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I\u2019m not from here [Florida], I just had to hear him speak,\u201d said Porter. \u201cEverything\u2019s so political and divided these days, and we need to stay together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fishback framed the upcoming election as a moral battle of \u201cgood versus evil\u201d rather than a purely partisan one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Right and Left wings are attached to the same corrupt, deceptive, deceitful, disingenuous, depraved bird,\u201d said Fishback. \u201cI am asking you, I am begging you to hire me as your next governor to shoot that bird out of the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n
This appeal for unity resonates with the 12% of Floridians, particularly Independents, who cite political polarization as a major concern, according to the PORL survey.<\/p>\n
In his speech, Fishback also vowed to roll back post-Parkland age restrictions on firearm purchases, asserting that 18-year-olds are old enough for military service and should be old enough to buy weapons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are old enough to die for your country, you are old enough to buy a weapon on your 18th birthday,\u201d Fishback said.<\/p>\n
However, the PORL survey demonstrates that public sentiment remains cautious regarding guns, with 64% of Floridians, including a majority of Republicans, supporting prohibiting firearms at protests following recent national incidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cBipartisan support for targeted gun prohibitions might be explained by recent violence against high-profile figures such as President Trump and Charlie Kirk, and\/or by the role of firearm possession in the death of Alex Pretti during ICE protests in Minneapolis,\u201d PORL Director Sean Freeder said in the PORL survey press release.<\/p>\n
Fishback concluded his speech with a prayer, following the claim that Christianity is the \u201cmost persecuted group on the face of the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twenty-year-old Tyler Ambrose, who attended the event, said that Fishback inspired him to \u201crestore American ideals\u201d in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like our current great governor, we need to make sure our state is for us and everyone in our country,\u201d said Ambrose.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican candidate for Florida governor James Fishback took the stage at the University of North Florida\u2019s Adam W.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-233835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}