Photo: CBS 12/Florida House of Representatives
A candidate for governor says he supports a permanent federal ban on immigration from Muslim countries.
Republican Paul Renner says he also wants to denaturalize and deport indviduals who are already in this country and are convicted of terrorism-related offenses.
"They hate Americans. They hate everybody that's not Muslim frankly, and so we have to be honest about it."
The former state House Speaker says he would also reject any federal attempt to use Florida communities as a refugee resettlement zone.
And when it comes to public schools...
"Restricting our Universal School Choice scholarship to any school that is teaching Sharia law concepts, which are completely, I think even Muslim scholars would agree are completely irreconcilable to the American constitutional republic and the American way of life."
It's part of Renner's multi-part plan to keep Florida Free from Sharia Law and Radical Islam.
Renner was Speaker of the House from 2022 to 2024 and weighs in on the flipping by Democrats of two Florida Legislative seats. They include the one in House District 87, where Mar-a-Lago sits.
The state's Republican party may be doing a deep dive to find out how this happens, but Renner says it's simple:
"I may be swimming against the stream of those who say there's nothing here to see, it's just a special election...I think the reason we lost is that Republicans are not paying attention."
He points out that after two years of talk about property tax reform, nothing has been done in Tallahassee.
"They're not addressing the needs of their own voters. I think Republicans are unhappy. I'm all over the state. I'm talking to voters every single day. I'm listening and I think there's great dissatisfaction."
Renner says that alone could have been enough to make no-party-affiliated voters turn on the Republican party.
"And the consequence of that is going to be a rough election cycle for Republicans across the state, where independents are going to break against us and frankly, I'm not so sure that some Republicans aren't so fed up that they're going to either stay home or vote against some of these members who failed to do what they were sent there to do."
Renner stops short of calling out House Speaker Daniel Perez by name, but points out his celebration of the chamber's "independence" from Governor DeSantis.
"Stop being so proud about opposing the governor and get with him and get something bold on property tax and put it on the ballot. That's a good place to start."
A special session is set for mid-April to finalize a budget and another could be scheduled to get constitutional amendment on the ballot to eliminate most, if not all, homesteaded property taxes.