Israel-Slamming GOP Candidate Dominates Youth Vote In Florida Governor Race

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In the latest indication of a sea change in US politics, a Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate who’s made opposition to US support of Israel a cornerstone of his campaign is winning the young-GOP vote by a wide margin. Combining social media savvy with oratorical flair, the Georgetown dropout-turned-investor and hedge fund manager is likely to continue making gains in his long-shot drive to succeed term-limited Ron DeSantis.

Whatever the final tally, however, his domination of the youth vote may portend the end of the GOP’s role as bastion of support for Israel.  Chasing Trump-endorsed frontrunner Byron Donalds, James Fishback has only reached mid-single-digits among the broad GOP electorate. However, among 18-to-34-year-olds, Fishback trounces Donalds, 32% to 8%. 

Fishback’s campaign stresses a hot-button issue for younger voters: affordability. Along those lines, he’s proposing the elimination of property taxes on homesteaded houses, abolishing tolls, and blocking data centers to ease pressure on electricity prices. He also opposes H-1B visas, with the idea of preserving job opportunities for Floridians. He wants to lower the age for any firearm purchase to 18, seeks an abortion ban, and has proposed a 50% sin tax on OnlyFans creators to pay for teacher salaries and school lunches. Opposing mass surveillance, he’s promised to “ban Palantir from every government contract in Florida.” 

However, it’s Fishback’s pointed rhetoric about support for the State of Israel that marks his campaign as a watershed in US politics — because it’s coming from the mouth of a Republican, and is clearly resonating with young conservatives. His statements have only grown more pointed with the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Speaking on the campaign trail last week, he offered this frontal assault:  

At a gathering with voters this week, a US Marine Corp reservist asked Fishback to sign his helmet. He did so, writing, “No American should die for Israel” on the Kevlar helmet. (We’re guessing the Marine will soon be in his commander’s office.) When Fishback announced what he’d written, the young-male-dominated crowd cheered heartily: 

Foreign policy may strike some as an irrelevant issue in a governor’s race, but note that many state governments have enmeshed themselves with Israel — for example, passing laws that prohibit state contractors from boycotting Israel, or imposing laws against “antisemitism” that apply an exceedingly broad definition of that term so as to conflate criticism of Israel with bigotry. Then there are the financial links: Fishback has promised to divest all $385 million that Florida has invested in Israeli government bonds, saying, “No public funds should ever be sent to a foreign government anywhere in the world.”

Fishback has ridiculed Donalds for his taking money from the Israel lobby, calling him “AIPAC Shakur.” When Donalds dared Fishback to say it to his face, Fishback tried to do just that at a Donalds event, but was ushered off the property by police. “A real black man would’ve stood on business,” Fishback then wrote to his more than 230,000 followers on X. 

Fishback ruffles feathers at every turn of his campaign. For example, he was accused of racism for saying the black Byron Donalds “wants to turn Florida into a Section 8 ghetto,” using a creative, alternate spelling of his opponent’s first name:    

Fishback has been called America’s first “Groyper” candidate, referring to a strain of nationalist conservatism associated with anti-Israel podcaster Nick Fuentes. While many seeking public office would resist being associated with Fuentes and the Groyper movement, Fishback has praised the podcaster’s followers.

“I’ve found the audience of young men who follow and watch Nick Fuentes to be actually incredibly informed and insightful and very patriotic,” he told an interviewer. After that remark elicited condemnation, Fishback posted a video statement to LinkedIn. He deceptively struck a tone that would lead an audience to think he was going to walk back the praise — then did the opposite:

“I want to clarify some comments that I made this week rather abruptly in a live interview about the young man in our country who watch and follow Nick Fuentes. I wanna clarify and apologize for absolutely nothing…Too often these days, young white men are discounted and told their opinions don’t matter, that they are toxically masculine, … that their contributions don’t matter…We can never, ever sell out the people who built this country.”  

Putting an exclamation point on the Groyper and alt-right association, the Fishback campaign’s merchandise store offers a t-shirt featuring Pepe the Frog holding a sign that reads, “Don’t care, still voting Fishback.” With 46% of young Florida Republicans still unsure whom they’ll support, it’s not clear how big Fishback’s upside is, but he still has five more months to chase it: The Florida primary is on Aug. 18. 



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