{"id":403240,"date":"2026-09-18T04:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/403240\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T04:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:42:13","slug":"florida-governor-candidates-differ-on-ai-data-centers-and-property-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/403240\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida governor candidates differ on AI, data centers and property taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Florida \"Florida Florida governor candidates differ on AI, data centers and property taxes<\/a> <\/p>\n

With Election Day less than two months away, both major-party candidates for Florida governor are making their case to Central Florida voters.\u00a0Republican candidate Byron Donalds hosted a town hall in Orlando, while Democratic candidate David Jolly sat down for a one-on-one interview with FOX 35.<\/p>\n

ORLANDO, Fla. – With Election Day less than two months away, both major-party candidates for Florida<\/a> governor are making their case to Central Florida voters.<\/p>\n

Republican candidate Byron Donalds hosted a town hall in Orlando, while Democratic candidate David Jolly sat down for a one-on-one interview with FOX 35.<\/p>\n

AI regulation <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Both candidates said artificial intelligence should be regulated, but they differed on who should take the lead.<\/p>\n

Jolly said he would like to see the federal government establish a standard but believes Florida should act if it does not.<\/p>\n

“I do hope Washington leads with a federal standard. If not, Florida needs to have one.”<\/p>\n

Donalds said Florida should move forward on its own.<\/p>\n

“I think we should do it in Florida as opposed to waiting on Washington.”<\/p>\n

Neither candidate detailed what those regulations would include.<\/p>\n

Data centers <\/p>\n

The candidates also took different approaches to data centers.<\/p>\n

Jolly said he does not want them built in Florida.<\/p>\n

“There are still questions around public health. The noise pollution is exceedingly real. The destabilization of communities, the devaluation of real estate. And I think it also becomes a visual symbol of the greater anxieties about artificial intelligence, the loss of jobs, the disruption of wages. Privacy and security concerns.”<\/p>\n

Donalds said decisions about data centers should be left to local governments.<\/p>\n

“We’re not going to preempt local governments. And take away that authority, these are their communities, they’re the ones that have to make these final decisions.”<\/p>\n

Property taxes <\/p>\n

The candidates also differ on Amendment 3, which would do away with property taxes.<\/p>\n

Jolly said he opposes the amendment.<\/p>\n

“I think we all want the math to work. But it just doesn’t.”<\/p>\n

He said he supports discussing targeted alternatives.<\/p>\n

“You could do additional targeted relief for seniors or people based on income. I do think we should have a statewide conversation about local control of exemptions.”<\/p>\n

Donalds said if a full repeal cannot be achieved, he would support more targeted relief.<\/p>\n

“If we can’t make the math work on full homestead property tax repeal, we wanna target that relief to working families and seniors on fixed income.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

Mail-in ballots are scheduled to be sent out next week. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5.<\/p>\n

The Source: This story was written based on a town hall in Orlando hosting Republican candidate for governor, Byron Donalds, and a one-on-one interview with Democratic candidate for governor, David Jolly.<\/p>\n

Politics<\/a>Florida Politics<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida governor candidates differ on AI, data centers and property taxes With Election Day less than two months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,4833,115,99],"class_list":["post-403240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-politics","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403240","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=403240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}