James Fishback, a racist and antisemitic Republican running to become Florida’s next governor, will hold a rally on Saturday, June 27 with Christian nationalist hate pastor Joel Webbon — a man who blames Jewish people for all social evils, blames teachers for causing men to be gay, blames marijuana for making men “spiritually gay,” and thinks Adolf Hitler wasn’t so bad after all.
Fishback, who supports overturning marriage equality, is running against U.S. Rep Byron Donalds, a Black Republican endorsed by the president, whom Fishback has repeatedly referred to as a “slave,” claiming that Donalds wants to “turn Florida into a Section 8 ghetto.” On January 30, Fishback wrote that gay Black journalist Don Lemon was “lucky he’s not getting hanged” for covering an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church.
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Fishback has publicly mocked and rejected trans-affirming activism. In a post on X, he described a high school debate final about trans safety as a “performative rant,” called it “anti-merit, anti-debate, and anti-American,” and said the judges should not have praised it.
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Fishback once used the word “goyslop” to describe mass-produced food; the term is rooted in antisemitic tropes suggesting that Jewish people provide low-quality products to harm non-Jews. He has also supported the antisemitic Great Replacement Theory, which accuses Jews of helping replace white Christians living in Western countries with non-white Muslims and others.
Fishback is also a supporter of Nick Fuentes, an antisemitic white nationalist influencer who has referred to Black people as n-words; said that “the GOP is run by Jews, atheists, and homosexuals”; described Adolf Hitler as “really fu**ing cool“; said “perfidious Jews” must “be given the death penalty” after “we take power”; and said, “A lot of women want to be raped… They want a guy to beat the s**t out of them.”
A June poll among 386 Republican Primary voters showed that only 8% supported Fishback, whereas 46% support Donalds. Their four-way Republican primary race includes Florida’s current Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner. It will take place on August 18.
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