TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida's August primary is less than six weeks away, and this week several major political fights started running straight into the election calendar.
As ballot printing begins for the upcoming primary, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds remains the man to beat in the Republican race for governor. But his rivals spent the week trying to put the frontrunner on defense.
WATCH BELOW: Florida primary fights: Lawsuits, debates, and ballot challenges
Donalds faces pressure from lawsuit, debate calls
Donalds' campaign pushed back against a civil assault lawsuit filed in Collier County by Kelly Mason, who alleges Donalds threatened and intimidated her during a 2022 confrontation inside a Naples grocery store.
Video of the confrontation shows Donalds telling Mason, "Stop the lawsuits Kelly — how about that."
Donalds' team called the lawsuit baseless and politically motivated.
At the same time, Donalds' opponents kept pressing him over debates. Former House Speaker Paul Renner said it is "disrespectful" for Donalds not to agree to debate. Gov. Ron DeSantis has also backed the idea of more debates in the Republican primary.
Lt. Gov. Jay Collins is making a different argument: that the race is tightening. Collins released polling he says shows him gaining ground and argued he is the only candidate with a real chance to catch Donalds.
"I'm the only person in this race with a fighting chance against Byron Donalds, and the math is going to show that very clearly," Collins said.
Donalds works to project strength
But Donalds also showed why he remains difficult to move.
His campaign says it has raised more than $90 million cycle-to-date. He has picked up endorsements from DeSantis appointees, including Attorney General James Uthmeier and CFO Blaise Ingoglia. And as of Friday, Donalds added the Florida Police Chiefs Association to his list of backers.
Collins-Fishback fight heads to court
Meanwhile, another Republican fight moved from the debate stage to the courtroom.
A Leon County judge set July 21 and 22 for a fast-tracked hearing in Collins' lawsuit trying to knock James Fishback off the Republican primary ballot. Collins argues Fishback does not meet Florida's seven-year residency requirement to run for governor.
Judge David Frank made clear the timeline is tight.
"There's really almost no chance that we can continue that," Frank said during a hearing. "You will have to be ready to go, guys."
The timing matters. Frank warned it may already be too late to stop ballots from being printed, meaning one possible remedy could be telling elections officials not to count Fishback votes.
Amendment 3 faces legal pile-on
Legal pressure is also mounting around Amendment 3, the property tax cut on Florida's November ballot.
There are now three lawsuits challenging the amendment's ballot language, with plaintiffs arguing the summary reads more like a campaign slogan than a neutral explanation.
"This ballot language is very questionable," plaintiff attorney Jamie Cole said. "It's really unlike any ballot titles and ballot summaries we've seen historically, especially in the property tax context."
The lawsuits are expected to be rolled together, with a hearing set for July 29. Plaintiffs hope to force a rewrite before voters get their ballots.
The clock is now the story
That is why the calendar matters.
Florida's official election calendar lists July 9 through July 16 as the window for sending vote-by-mail ballots to domestic voters ahead of the Aug. 18 primary.
Once ballots start moving, courts have less room to cleanly change what voters see — or who appears on the ballot. So this week's biggest Florida political story may not be one lawsuit, one poll or one campaign attack — it is the clock.
