Orlando personal-injury titan John Morgan, the deep-pocketed backer behind Florida’s medical-marijuana and minimum-wage ballot pushes, says he is out of the running for governor this year. Instead, in a short video posted April 13, he announced plans to launch a new political party in Florida and casually tossed out a $100,000 reward for whoever comes up with its name.
In the clip shared on X, Morgan said he would file the paperwork “in the coming days” and teased the six-figure naming prize. According to reporting carried by the USA TODAY Network’s Tallahassee Democrat and Orlando Weekly, Morgan cast the move as a way to stay in the political mix without launching a full-on statewide campaign.
Morgan points to past ballot wins
Morgan pitched the new party as a home for voters “stuck in the middle,” pointing to two statewide amendment campaigns he helped bankroll that cleared Florida’s high bar at the ballot box. The state requires a 60 percent supermajority to amend its constitution, a hurdle detailed by The Florida Senate, yet the medical-marijuana and minimum-wage measures both sailed past that threshold. Official vote totals are recorded in state election archives and public databases.
Political math in Florida
Morgan’s planned party would be jumping into a state with firmly entrenched major parties and a growing bloc of voters who want no label at all. As of Feb. 28, the Florida Division of Elections lists roughly 5.5 million registered Republicans, about 4 million Democrats, and around 3.8 million other or unaffiliated voters. That balance helps explain how Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds has piled up a massive campaign account in the 2026 governor’s race. Local coverage reports a record $22.2 million haul in the first quarter, pushing his combined totals past roughly $67 million, according to the South Florida Standard. The registration snapshot comes from the Florida Division of Elections.
What happens next
Orlando Weekly reports Morgan told Politico he will announce submission rules for the naming contest “soon,” though he did not specify how long the contest will run or exactly how the $100,000 prize will be awarded. What is clear is that building a real statewide party takes far more than a clever brand: organizers have to handle filings, recruit candidates, manage petition drives or secure ballot access, and set up legal and financial structures sturdy enough to withstand court challenges and bare-knuckle politics.
Morgan’s pitch mixed nuts-and-bolts organizing with a bit of personal color. He noted that he enjoys spending time in Hawaii, joked that he “does like my marijuana,” and said he wants more hours with his grandchildren, hinting that life as a candidate is not especially compatible with that schedule.
Whether a $100,000 naming bounty can help birth a viable party is very much up in the air. Third parties have historically run into steep logistical and legal headwinds in Florida and across the country. For now, Morgan’s move adds another twist to an already volatile 2026 governor’s race and gives Floridians one more thing to argue about, both online and in the state’s filing offices.
