The 2026 GOP Florida gubernatorial primary is heating up as the Trump-endorsed frontrunner, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), is finding himself a target. Donalds was slammed last week by Governor Ron DeSantis’s Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who is reportedly considering entering the GOP race.
[Note: Collins criticized Donalds for echoing President Trump’s blaming the Biden administration for allowing thousands of Afghan nationals into the U.S. after the 2021 military withdrawal. Pegging Donalds as a hypocrite, Collins exposed Donalds as having voted in favor for the ALLIES ACT, a bill that added 8,000 Afghan Special Immigrant Visas and sped up visas for U.S. allies during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.]
If Collins does file to run, he will also face investment firm CEO James Fishback in the GOP primary. (DeSantis is term-limited, though some believe his wife, Casey DeSantis, may also join the race.)
Fishback aligns with Collins on the Afghan immigration issue. Regarding the vetting of Afghan nationals — even those who worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan — Fishback has said: “We don’t need ‘100% vetting.’ We need 100% deportation of all Afghan refugees from Florida.”
On Friday, Fishback attacked Donalds on a separate front. The GOP candidate held a 20-minute press conference outside what he called an “abandoned” charter school in Ft. Myers, which Fishback says was founded by Donalds and his wife Erika. The school, he says, “was supposed to open nearly a year ago.”
Today, I held a press conference outside the abandoned Ft. Myers charter school founded by @ByronDonalds and his wife. The school never opened for kids, but that didn’t stop them from collecting millions and arranging possibly fraudulent EB-5 visas for foreign nationals. pic.twitter.com/a3Q7uMfQG9
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) December 5, 2025
With the video above, Fishback wrote: “The school never opened for kids, but that didn’t stop them from collecting millions and arranging possibly fraudulent EB-5 visas for foreign nationals.” He added: “It’s a lie and a scam that abandoned kids.”
[NOTE: Fishback does not offer evidence for his claim of “possibly fraudulent” EB-5 visas or an official record of either Donalds “collecting millions.”]
Still, many MAGA supporters on X are praising Fishback’s press conference. As one replied: “Bro is cooking H-1Byron and I’m here for it.”
Another wrote: “LMFAO THATS [EXPLETIVE] GANGSTER.” And another: “That’s savage asf” and “LOL That’s tuff.”
Note: Erika Donalds has opened four charters schools in Florida. Regarding the Ft. Myers school — called Optima Classical Academy — in May 2024, Donalds sent an email to parents who had enrolled their children in the school, citing financial challenges and the impact of Category 5 Hurricane Ian as reasons why the opening of the school was delayed.
According to Gulf Coast News, a different company has taken over the school, changed its name to Nova Classical STEM Academy, and plans to open in August 2026. A spokeswoman for the company, Danielle Alvarez, said “the project has been entirely privately funded, with no tax dollars used to date.”