![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fishback.JPG\" "\\"James")
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James Fishback, CEO of investment firm \/ asset manager Azoria, speaks at the Marshall Student Center on Monday, Oct 6, 2025, in Tampa, as Florida universities navigate renewed free speech battles following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
Douglas R. Clifford<\/p>\n
Times<\/p>\n
TALLAHASSEE<\/p>\n
Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback on Tuesday tried to assure a judge that he\u2019s always lived in Florida as he faces questions about his eligibility to be on the ballot.<\/p>\n
Documents that could show otherwise \u2014 like a Washington, D.C., mortgage record where Fishback attested that the city was his primary residence \u2014 were completed without thinking, he and his attorney argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just kind of signing through stuff,\u201d Fishback testified.<\/p>\n
He said he rarely used the Washington apartment. He said he registered to vote in Washington, D.C., and voted there in 2020 only because he was stuck amid the pandemic. (Fishback previously asserted he never voted in D.C.)<\/p>\n
He said it was too late at the time for him to vote by mail in Florida.<\/p>\n
But one of his political opponents in the race for governor, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, is arguing that Fishback\u2019s time in Washington was more enduring than Fishback insists. Collins did not attend the Tuesday hearing.<\/p>\n
Collins in late June filed a lawsuit<\/a> asking that Fishback be removed from the ballot, saying he doesn\u2019t meet the necessary criteria. Florida\u2019s constitution requires that the governor be a state resident for the seven years before their election.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll be up to Judge David Frank, who heard arguments from both candidates\u2019 attorneys Tuesday, to decide whether Fishback meets the residency requirement.<\/p>\n Even if Frank rules that Fishback is ineligible to run for office, it could likely be too late to remove his name from printed ballots. The primary election is Aug. 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both Fishback\u2019s and Collins\u2019 odds of success in the Republican primary are low. While Fishback has ranked as the second most popular candidate in the Republican primary for governor in some polls, he has trailed behind front-runner U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n In the course of his campaign, Fishback has levied racist attacks against Donalds, including intentionally misspelling his name as \u201cBy\u2019rone.\u201d<\/p>\n In the lawsuit, Collins cites documentation that he says shows Fishback lived outside the state.<\/p>\n The documents were gathered by GOP researcher Mark McLaughlin, whom Collins\u2019 side called as a witness. McLaughlin said he was paid $40,000 or $50,000 by the campaign since being hired in the spring, he said.<\/p>\n Some of the records McLaughlin obtained point to a condo Fishback purchased in Washington in 2021. From 2023 through 2026, Fishback received a homestead exemption on the property.<\/p>\n That homestead exemption was removed in April and the tax office retroactively charged Fishback for the exempted amount of taxes going back to 2023. It\u2019s not clear why.<\/p>\n To get that homestead exemption in the first place, Fishback would have had to assert that it was his primary residence, McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I was seeing was evidence he had established residency, in the case of the homestead exemption, that he was domiciled in D.C. for a period of time,\u201d McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n But Fishback said he didn\u2019t know he was attesting to being a D.C. resident. Before buying his home in Madison County in 2022, Fishback said he was living with his grandmother in Plantation, Florida. His dad, whom his camp called as a witness, said the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI just happened to be in D.C. when everything hit the fan,\u201d Fishback said.<\/p>\n Fishback and his attorney, former Republican state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, cited their own list of examples to show Fishback has lived in Florida, including Florida business records for his investment organization and a debate league he created that shows a Florida address.<\/p>\n![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MIA_59_Florida_Legislation_Session_2026_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_59_Florida_Legislation_Session_2026_MJO.JPG\\"")
Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins attends the first day of the 2026 legislative session at the Florida State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n