Former Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback says he was threatened with arrest while trying to attend a public campaign event for Byron Donalds, the Republican who beat him in this year's primary. Fishback said deputies told him and his wife they were “not welcome here” when they showed up to the Clearwater event, marking at least the third time this year he says he's been turned away or threatened with arrest at a Donalds-linked appearance.
According to CBS12, Fishback said deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office were the ones who threatened him with arrest as he tried to enter the Clearwater event. His news release did not specify what led to the confrontation or identify which deputies were involved, the station reported.
Separate reporting from Raw Story described a different version of events, saying Donalds' campaign kicked Fishback out of a public event in St. Petersburg on Saturday and threatened to have him arrested. In a post cited by the outlet, Fishback wrote that “Byron Donalds just denied me entry to his public event in St. Pete, and threatened to arrest me if we didn't leave.” The discrepancy between the two accounts — over both the location and who allegedly made the threat — has not been resolved, and Donalds' campaign has not publicly responded to Fishback's claims, per the same outlet.
A Pattern Of Clashes Since The Primary
Fishback, a Republican who ran against and lost to Donalds in Florida's 2026 gubernatorial primary, has said he was shut out of Donalds-affiliated events before. In February, Fishback was removed from Lt. Gov. Jay Collins' campaign rally in Hillsborough County after Florida troopers gave him a trespassing warning, according to the Floridian Press. He was warned that he would be arrested if he returned to the property, the outlet reported.
Weeks later, Fishback was denied entry to a Collier County Republican Executive Committee meeting during a speech by Donalds, with the confrontation reportedly involving pushing, shoving and swearing, according to Gulf Coast News Now. On X, Fishback separately wrote that Donalds “tried to have me arrested” during an appearance in Fort Myers in February.
Fishback Points To Primary Numbers And Party Work
Fishback said he was disappointed by the latest incident, noting that he received nearly 200,000 votes in the primary and won voters under age 50 by 13 percentage points, according to the CBS12 report. He said he has since endorsed 22 Republican candidates and has knocked on doors and mobilized campaign volunteers for Republican campaigns across Florida.
Fishback said Donalds has treated him poorly despite that work on behalf of the party, per the same account. He also noted that he and his wife attended an event hosted by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon the week before without any issues, and said he has attended political events featuring Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bernie Sanders without ever experiencing a problem.
What's Next For Donalds' Campaign
Donalds, who won the GOP nomination, is running in the November 3 general election. Neither his campaign nor the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has publicly addressed Fishback's latest account of being turned away, leaving open questions about what triggered the confrontation and who exactly delivered the alleged threat.
