Fishback belongs on Florida's GOP ballot. Here's why | Opinion

Opinion columnist Mary Anna Mancuso argues that Florida Republican voters — not a judge — should decide whether long-shot gubernatorial candidate James Fishback stays in the race. The column pushes back against a lawsuit filed by Lt. Gov. Jay Collins seeking to disqualify Fishback over the state’s seven-year residency requirement.

FULL STORY: Let Florida Republican voters decide James Fishback’s fate | Opinion

Here are key takeaways:

• Mancuso argues Fishback’s chances of winning are slim, but pulling him off the ballot would disenfranchise voters who deserve to make that call themselves on Aug. 18.
• Collins’ lawsuit claims Fishback fails Florida’s seven-year residency rule because he registered to vote in Washington, D.C., in 2020 and claimed a homestead exemption there — though Fishback says he’s a fourth-generation Floridian with a driver’s license issued in 2016.
• Mancuso questions the timing of the legal challenge, filed just six weeks before the primary, warning that even if Collins wins, Fishback’s name may stay on printed ballots and set up a messy post-election fight.
• The Republican Party of Florida struck the right balance, Mancuso writes, by revoking Fishback’s debate invitation over his rhetoric while declining to push him off the ballot through the courts.
• Candidates don’t get to pick their opponents, the column concludes. If Fishback is unfit, Republican voters should be the ones to reject him.

The summary above was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.