October 14, 2025 • 8 mins
Former House Speaker Paul Renner joins us in studio to explain why he’s running for governor of Florida. He discusses the state’s biggest challenges, from property insurance and taxes to immigration and the future of Florida’s political landscape.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us in studio. We have former House Speaker Paul Renner,
who's running for the Republican nomination for governor. Paul, thank
you so much for coming in. Really appreciate it. Ryan
great to be with you. So I want to start
with what you think the top issue is that you
would need to address if you were to become Florida's
(00:20):
next governor.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, I think there's two.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
One is a leadership question and I think many people,
let myself included, love the job our governor has done
over the last seven going on eight years, and are
we going to take a step backwards. People want someone
with leadership experience, who's delivered results and who they can
trust to handle whatever comes their way.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That's the leadership question.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And then on policy, I think you know, different people
have different things that they prioritize. I think broadly people
are concerned about affordability, the cost of things, some of
which government can help with, some of which we can't,
but property tax, insurance, those kinds of things that were
costs have just gotten out of control, and a lot
of it's driven by the fact that Washington, d c.
(01:01):
Has borrowed and printed money in a very irresponsible way.
For decades. It's not a one year two year problem.
And that is really devalued with inflation, devalued what we
carry in our pocket from our salaries and wages, and
we've seen property taxes go up beyond wages. We've seen
insurance that's gone up astronomically due to a lot of
(01:21):
people moving into the state. Due to that, it's same inflation,
the same inflationary factors, as well as runaway litigation. And
so there are levers we can pull in government to
fix it, and then there's some that we can't. But
people are looking at leadership and they're looking at who's
going to solve tomorrow's problems, And I think you have
to look at who's solved the problems of yesterday real quick.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
On the leadership issue.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Are you saying that if Byron Donalds were to win
the nomination and become governor, that would be a step back.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'm not leadership.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No. I think Byron and I are we're all friends.
Everybody that might get in the race were friendly. I
would say we're competitors, not adversaries. But I think it's
a general question. The governor's done such a great that
people look and say you know, who's going to be
as good as this governor and leaning forward into the
issues that he's lean into. On the property insurance issue,
(02:10):
you obviously when you were Speaker of the House focused
heavily on litigation. What about the practices of some of
these insurance companies that we see where you know, they
say they're not making that much money, and then you
look at their subsidiaries and they're making a bunch of money.
I mean, is that something that we need to start
focusing on. The lawyer part obviously addressed during your time
(02:32):
in the state legislature, but I think a lot of
people have questions what's going on with the companies that
are in charge of all with this.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, we address both.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So we address the litigation part, which is what people
have talked about and I've talked about because that's where
a lot of the cost drivers were. But insurance companies
have to be as good at paying out claims as
they are at taking premiums. And so we also had
an Ensure Accountability bill that ran in parallel with that,
which gets less press. We focused on consumers, Ryan, and
that's where I will focus as governor. And so in
(03:00):
that bill, we said look, you have to make sure
you're paying claims faster. You have to allow for greater flexibility,
for example, using a video on your iPhone or your
cell phone to film your house after a hurricane that
can be uploaded that they can use, because what happens
is they're short on adjusters. You know, a hurricane comes
in and there's enough adjusters for you know, a fraction
(03:23):
of the people that have claims in a big hurricane,
and so people are waiting, waiting, waiting. We said, no,
we're not going to let them wait. We want them
to be able to video the home and send it
up and use that allow that to be something that
the insurers can use to process a claim. If you
have bad patterns or practices that we see a pattern,
you get hammered and we increase the penalties for insurance
(03:43):
companies on that as well. And so this is the
new rules. The old hurricanes ian for example, those hurricanes
in the past are under the old rules, both on
the litigation side and the insurer side. So as we
and we hope that we're in October. I don't want
to say the word out loud, but we hope that
the waters get cooler out there, but if we have
another hurricane, we will then we'll be under those new rules.
(04:05):
And again with the focus as speaker, along with my
counterparts in the Senate, was on the consumer, lower the
consumer's cost by giving it a garbage litigation, and also
hold the insurers accountable so that when there is a
storm they get treated in an appropriate way.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
All right, and no data has a question for you
as well.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I do Alligator Alcatraz cost four hundred and fifty million
dollars or something like that. Now, obviously there was a
need for a detention space here in Florida, But do
you think that that was the best use of taxpayer
money to open that facility in that way?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, let me say two things.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
As governor, I would look at the lowest cost, fastest
way to get there. And I don't know because I
don't have that information whether that was well that wasn't it,
whether that was even available. But Camp Blanding is up
my way. I would look at a Camp blanding and say,
do we have capacity anywhere in a currently restricted area
that has security where it's an appropriate place to do this?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And I would do that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Having said that, I don't know because I wasn't in
the governor's seat whether he had that opportunity, and of
Alligator Alcatraz was the best possibility to get there quickly.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Here's what I would say, it was the most newsworthy
possibility there was.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, if we're being honest, Yeah, well and look, so
here's what I'll say on the second point is, the
cost of illegal immigration is far greater than the cost
of Alligator Alcatraz, the cost of free education, the cost
of free healthcare, the cost of gang violence in our communities,
the cost of human trafficking in our communities, the cost
(05:36):
on all these different levels. Because the Democrats, prior to
President Trump coming in, have let the border wide open,
and frankly, Republicans didn't do a fantastic job at solving this.
Our immigration system has been broken for decades. We've got
to control the border, we've got to get back to
some sense of normalcy, and then we've got to figure
out what do we want to do with with legal immigration.
(05:58):
Part of the problem is, you know, takes ten or
fifteen years to get through their legal process, and so
it incentivized people to sneak across and do it and
do it that way, and so it cost us far
more than alligator alcatraze, is my long answer to your
short question, and so I would do it in the
cheapest way possible that was appropriate. But if that was
the only way possible, then I would do it.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
We needed the space, is what I would say.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
It emptied out our jails that they're holding people that
shouldn't be there. It's an efficient way to put a
group of people that are due for deportation in one
spot rather than with you know, the people that got
picked up in downtown Tampa, downtown Saint Pete last night. Well,
I think with deportation depot, we found it could be
done cheaper. That was about six million dollars something to
put that one together. Former House Speaker Paul Renner, who's
(06:42):
running for the GOP nomination for governor here in Florida,
and Speaker Renner, I want to talk about the politics
of this run for governor for a second. You've got
President Trump endorsing Congressman Byron Donalds, and Governor DeSantis, who
you worked with very closely when you were a House speaker,
chose not to endorse you. In fact, kind of question
(07:03):
to your run for a governor, What do you make
of that, and where do you see yourself in terms
of this Republican party here in Florida, the lane that
you're in. Well, I think the governor will come on
board at some point because you can't separate his legacy
from what I did as Speaker. But I think what
people are looking at is experience. I have twenty years
(07:23):
in the military. I served in two wars Afghanistan and
Desert Storm. Twenty years prior was a state attorney here.
My whole life has been dedicated to fighting for the country,
fighting for my state, and then, of course the Speaker.
We had two of the most conservative, consequential years that
really built the free state of Florida that the governor
campaigns on or talks about all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You did get a lot done in those We got
a lot done.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And so people want someone with experience who's delivered results
to fix the problems up tomorrow. That's me, and they
want someone that they can trust. And you can look
at my life from the time I was twenty three
guiding a ship through mine infested waters, and every mind
we destroyed was one less that hurt or kill an
American serviceman. I've been in positions of trust, leadership under pressure,
(08:04):
and that's exactly what I'll deliver as governor and can
be someone who can take us to the next level
and continue the legacy of Governor DeSantis, but also partner
with President Trump, and I'm a big supporter of both
of them, and i think I'm the right guy to
unite the party and deliver victory next year. Well, we
appreciate you stopping by coming in talking with us. We
hope to have you back on at some point soon,
(08:25):
and best of luck with the run for governor.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Thanks Ryan, great to be with you The Ryan Gorman
Show five to nine every weekday morning on news Radio
two u FLA.
Joining us in studio. We have former House Speaker Paul Renner,
who's running for the Republican nomination for governor. Paul, thank
you so much for coming in. Really appreciate it. Ryan
great to be with you. So I want to start
with what you think the top issue is that you
would need to address if you were to become Florida's
(00:20):
next governor.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, I think there's two.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
One is a leadership question and I think many people,
let myself included, love the job our governor has done
over the last seven going on eight years, and are
we going to take a step backwards. People want someone
with leadership experience, who's delivered results and who they can
trust to handle whatever comes their way.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That's the leadership question.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And then on policy, I think you know, different people
have different things that they prioritize. I think broadly people
are concerned about affordability, the cost of things, some of
which government can help with, some of which we can't,
but property tax, insurance, those kinds of things that were
costs have just gotten out of control, and a lot
of it's driven by the fact that Washington, d c.
(01:01):
Has borrowed and printed money in a very irresponsible way.
For decades. It's not a one year two year problem.
And that is really devalued with inflation, devalued what we
carry in our pocket from our salaries and wages, and
we've seen property taxes go up beyond wages. We've seen
insurance that's gone up astronomically due to a lot of
(01:21):
people moving into the state. Due to that, it's same inflation,
the same inflationary factors, as well as runaway litigation. And
so there are levers we can pull in government to
fix it, and then there's some that we can't. But
people are looking at leadership and they're looking at who's
going to solve tomorrow's problems, And I think you have
to look at who's solved the problems of yesterday real quick.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
On the leadership issue.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Are you saying that if Byron Donalds were to win
the nomination and become governor, that would be a step back.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'm not leadership.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No. I think Byron and I are we're all friends.
Everybody that might get in the race were friendly. I
would say we're competitors, not adversaries. But I think it's
a general question. The governor's done such a great that
people look and say you know, who's going to be
as good as this governor and leaning forward into the
issues that he's lean into. On the property insurance issue,
(02:10):
you obviously when you were Speaker of the House focused
heavily on litigation. What about the practices of some of
these insurance companies that we see where you know, they
say they're not making that much money, and then you
look at their subsidiaries and they're making a bunch of money.
I mean, is that something that we need to start
focusing on. The lawyer part obviously addressed during your time
(02:32):
in the state legislature, but I think a lot of
people have questions what's going on with the companies that
are in charge of all with this.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, we address both.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So we address the litigation part, which is what people
have talked about and I've talked about because that's where
a lot of the cost drivers were. But insurance companies
have to be as good at paying out claims as
they are at taking premiums. And so we also had
an Ensure Accountability bill that ran in parallel with that,
which gets less press. We focused on consumers, Ryan, and
that's where I will focus as governor. And so in
(03:00):
that bill, we said look, you have to make sure
you're paying claims faster. You have to allow for greater flexibility,
for example, using a video on your iPhone or your
cell phone to film your house after a hurricane that
can be uploaded that they can use, because what happens
is they're short on adjusters. You know, a hurricane comes
in and there's enough adjusters for you know, a fraction
(03:23):
of the people that have claims in a big hurricane,
and so people are waiting, waiting, waiting. We said, no,
we're not going to let them wait. We want them
to be able to video the home and send it
up and use that allow that to be something that
the insurers can use to process a claim. If you
have bad patterns or practices that we see a pattern,
you get hammered and we increase the penalties for insurance
(03:43):
companies on that as well. And so this is the
new rules. The old hurricanes ian for example, those hurricanes
in the past are under the old rules, both on
the litigation side and the insurer side. So as we
and we hope that we're in October. I don't want
to say the word out loud, but we hope that
the waters get cooler out there, but if we have
another hurricane, we will then we'll be under those new rules.
(04:05):
And again with the focus as speaker, along with my
counterparts in the Senate, was on the consumer, lower the
consumer's cost by giving it a garbage litigation, and also
hold the insurers accountable so that when there is a
storm they get treated in an appropriate way.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
All right, and no data has a question for you
as well.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I do Alligator Alcatraz cost four hundred and fifty million
dollars or something like that. Now, obviously there was a
need for a detention space here in Florida, But do
you think that that was the best use of taxpayer
money to open that facility in that way?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, let me say two things.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
As governor, I would look at the lowest cost, fastest
way to get there. And I don't know because I
don't have that information whether that was well that wasn't it,
whether that was even available. But Camp Blanding is up
my way. I would look at a Camp blanding and say,
do we have capacity anywhere in a currently restricted area
that has security where it's an appropriate place to do this?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And I would do that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Having said that, I don't know because I wasn't in
the governor's seat whether he had that opportunity, and of
Alligator Alcatraz was the best possibility to get there quickly.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Here's what I would say, it was the most newsworthy
possibility there was.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, if we're being honest, Yeah, well and look, so
here's what I'll say on the second point is, the
cost of illegal immigration is far greater than the cost
of Alligator Alcatraz, the cost of free education, the cost
of free healthcare, the cost of gang violence in our communities,
the cost of human trafficking in our communities, the cost
(05:36):
on all these different levels. Because the Democrats, prior to
President Trump coming in, have let the border wide open,
and frankly, Republicans didn't do a fantastic job at solving this.
Our immigration system has been broken for decades. We've got
to control the border, we've got to get back to
some sense of normalcy, and then we've got to figure
out what do we want to do with with legal immigration.
(05:58):
Part of the problem is, you know, takes ten or
fifteen years to get through their legal process, and so
it incentivized people to sneak across and do it and
do it that way, and so it cost us far
more than alligator alcatraze, is my long answer to your
short question, and so I would do it in the
cheapest way possible that was appropriate. But if that was
the only way possible, then I would do it.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
We needed the space, is what I would say.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
It emptied out our jails that they're holding people that
shouldn't be there. It's an efficient way to put a
group of people that are due for deportation in one
spot rather than with you know, the people that got
picked up in downtown Tampa, downtown Saint Pete last night. Well,
I think with deportation depot, we found it could be
done cheaper. That was about six million dollars something to
put that one together. Former House Speaker Paul Renner, who's
(06:42):
running for the GOP nomination for governor here in Florida,
and Speaker Renner, I want to talk about the politics
of this run for governor for a second. You've got
President Trump endorsing Congressman Byron Donalds, and Governor DeSantis, who
you worked with very closely when you were a House speaker,
chose not to endorse you. In fact, kind of question
(07:03):
to your run for a governor, What do you make
of that, and where do you see yourself in terms
of this Republican party here in Florida, the lane that
you're in. Well, I think the governor will come on
board at some point because you can't separate his legacy
from what I did as Speaker. But I think what
people are looking at is experience. I have twenty years
(07:23):
in the military. I served in two wars Afghanistan and
Desert Storm. Twenty years prior was a state attorney here.
My whole life has been dedicated to fighting for the country,
fighting for my state, and then, of course the Speaker.
We had two of the most conservative, consequential years that
really built the free state of Florida that the governor
campaigns on or talks about all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You did get a lot done in those We got
a lot done.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And so people want someone with experience who's delivered results
to fix the problems up tomorrow. That's me, and they
want someone that they can trust. And you can look
at my life from the time I was twenty three
guiding a ship through mine infested waters, and every mind
we destroyed was one less that hurt or kill an
American serviceman. I've been in positions of trust, leadership under pressure,
(08:04):
and that's exactly what I'll deliver as governor and can
be someone who can take us to the next level
and continue the legacy of Governor DeSantis, but also partner
with President Trump, and I'm a big supporter of both
of them, and i think I'm the right guy to
unite the party and deliver victory next year. Well, we
appreciate you stopping by coming in talking with us. We
hope to have you back on at some point soon,
(08:25):
and best of luck with the run for governor.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Thanks Ryan, great to be with you The Ryan Gorman
Show five to nine every weekday morning on news Radio
two u FLA.
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