Ron DeSantis

Congressman Byron Donalds, the Trump-endorsed Republican representing Naples, joins FOX 35's Garrett Wymer live via Zoom to discuss his campaign for Florida Governor to succeed Ron DeSantis. He will face former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner in the Republican primary and one of Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings or former Congressman David Jolly on the Democratic side of the ticket.

UCF Political Science Lecturer John Hanley joins FOX 35's Garrett Wymer live via Zoom to break down a new poll from UNF showing the state of the race for Florida's next Governor in 2026. According to the poll, Republicans lead by double digits, regardless of if Congressman Byron Donalds or Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis makes it out of the primary, and whether they face former Congressman David Jolly or Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. The poll also took a look at the top issues facing Floridians, which came out to a focus on housing, property insurance, property tax and the economy.

Former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner joins FOX 35's Garrett Wymer live in studio to discuss his campaign for Florida Governor in 2026, where he faces President Trump-endorsed Florida Congressman Byron Donalds of Naples, and potentially Florida Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins carrying the torch of the Governor Ron DeSantis administration.

Grand Jury proceedings are under way in Leon county in connection with the investigation into the Hope Florida Foundation and a $10 million settlement between a Medicaid provider and the state over alleged overpayments. The Hope Florida Foundation is intended to raise money for a charity led by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, which is under investigation for steering money to nonprofits that then gave money to a political action committee headed by Attorney General James Uthmeier, then Gov. DeSantis' Chief of Staff, who used the money to oppose adult-use marijuana and abortion ballot questions. Alexandra Glorioso, State Government Reporter with the Miami Herald and Lawrence Mower, Tallahassee Correspondent with the Tampa Bay Times join FOX 35's Garrett Wymer live via Zoom to break down their reporting of the Hope Florida probe and the status of the grand jury proceedings.

Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell, covering Orange and Osceola Counties, continues to strike back at Governor Ron DeSantis' threats and attacks against her office, including allegations of being soft on crime for refusing to prosecute certain cases or pursue higher charges on specific cases. Worrell claims DeSantis is lying to give pretext to remove her from office again, repeating his actions from 2023. Worrell was later re-elected to her position as state attorney in 2024. Aubrey Jewett, UCF Political Science Professor joins FOX 35's Garrett Wymer to break down the political implications of the feud between Worrell and the state government, including the allegations by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier of Worrell's office having a massive backlog of cases and calling her out for alleged poor handling of cases involving fentanyl, sex crimes and stand your ground.

Jared Walczak, Vice President of State Projects with The Tax Foundation joins FOX 35's Garrett Wymer to break down the avenues by which Governor Ron DeSantis and the state legislature could end or drastically reduce property taxes, and the impact of eliminating property taxes on the local level and where governments would need to go to get that revenue.

On Friday morning, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that a portion of the Clearwater Trail will be named after Hulk Hogan. The Hulk Hogan trail will be on a two-mile portion of the Clearwater Trail between Oak Avenue and Clearwater Drive. There will also be exercise stations on this portion of the trail.