LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner “would be really good” as governor, offering some of his strongest praise yet for a Republican candidate in the 2026 race while continuing to decline to endorse a candidate in the party’s primary.
Speaking to reporters following a back-to-school event at Tortuga Preserve Elementary School in Lee County, DeSantis was asked about Renner’s gubernatorial campaign and why he had not encouraged the former House speaker to enter the race.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t think he would be a good governor. I think he’d be really good,” DeSantis said. “He’s got a great record of policy, but how are you going to get known? What’s your strategy to get known to people?”
DeSantis said his reservations were about the realities of running a statewide campaign in Florida rather than Renner’s qualifications.
“Being governor is different than winning governor,” he said, arguing that statewide candidates often need significant advertising or widespread media attention to build name recognition across Florida’s multiple media markets.
Renner, who served as House speaker from 2022 to 2024, entered the Republican primary earlier this year, joining Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds and James Fishback in the race to succeed the term-limited DeSantis.
The comments come as Collins has repeatedly sought DeSantis’ endorsement, making the governor’s support a focus of his campaign. DeSantis has not endorsed a candidate in the race.
“I’m not involved in any primaries,” he said, adding that he would only consider getting involved if he believed a candidate was “doing what I think it takes” and “would do very well.”
While praising Renner’s policy record, DeSantis also reflected more broadly on the challenges facing candidates seeking statewide office in Florida, saying many voters are not closely following elections and that campaigns often depend on expensive paid media to introduce candidates to the electorate.
“You either have to pay for it by buying advertising or you have to generate a lot of free media, which is hard in a state this big because we have so many different media markets,” DeSantis said.
