Report: Most Candidates for Florida Governor Oppose Legalizing Cannabis

Florida voters may not be considering a cannabis legalization question this November, but they will be electing a new governor, and all but one major candidate opposes adult-use cannabis reforms, the Florida Phoenix reports.

Former Republican Florida Rep. David Jolly — who is now running for governor as a Democrat after distancing himself from the Republican party as a prominent critic of President Trump — said that he supports legalizing adult-use marijuana because a majority of Floridians supported the legalization question in 2024.

The Republican candidates all oppose adult-use reforms:

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R) said during a recent campaign event that he does not support adult-use reforms, but believes that “the current regulatory system around medicinal use is fine.” Previously, Donalds admitted to being arrested for low-level cannabis possession and that he sold small quantities of cannabis as a youth, according to the report.

James Fishback, another Republican candidate, said that he opposes adult-use reforms but supports access for patients “with a legitimate medical purpose, including our U.S. military veterans.”

Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (R) said in a recent social media post that he is “completely against legalizing marijuana,” citing concerns about the industry’s impact in other states.

Former House Speaker Paul Renner (R) said last week that he’s “against full blown recreational marijuana,” noting that, “If it came back on the ballot, I would campaign against it like Gov. DeSantis did.”

Florida voters considered an adult-use legalization question in 2024, but while the ballot question easily clinched a majority, it failed to reach the 60% voter threshold required for a constitutional amendment.

Florida officials ruled in February that the 2026 campaign to put an adult-use cannabis legalization question on the ballot had failed to gather enough signatures. The campaign appealed the decision by state officials to invalidate thousands of its submitted signatures under new policies set by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), but the state Supreme Court sided with officials.