ORLANDO | Rep. Paul Renner is in line to become speaker of the Florida House in 2022, making him the first legislator from Northeast Florida to be chosen for the leadership position in more than two decades.
Renner, 50, was designated speaker by his freshman Republican colleagues on Friday during an election held at a hotel near the Orlando airport. Renner was elected after a single round of secret balloting during a closed-door meeting. He and three other candidates gave speeches and answered questions prior to the vote.
Renner, of Palm Coast, never publicly confirmed he was seeking the speaker position but has worked for several months to build support among colleagues. During the 2017 session, he carried high-profile legislation that limited the use of economic incentives in Florida.
“You should always be the leader you want to be or want to support,” he said after Friday’s vote. “I think for me it was just about helping my colleagues and doing what I can to do to make them successful.”
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Renner’s campaign was also boosted by robust fundraising through his Florida Foundation for Liberty political committee, which has raised nearly $1 million since 2014 and $261,500 in the month of May alone. May donors comprise a who’s who of Jacksonville area businesses and political leaders that rallied behind the prospect of a future speaker hailing from the region.
Former Ambassador John Rood, Preston Haskell and John Baker are among those who gave to Renner’s committee, as well as companies like Gate Petroleum and Miller Electric.
Renner works in Jacksonville as an attorney and is a U.S. Navy veteran. He was elected to the House in a 2015 special election but is considered a freshman because his first full term began in 2016. Renner first ran for the House in 2014 but narrowly lost in the primary to Rep. Jay Fant.
Technically, Friday’s election allowed the 26 freshman GOP representatives to select who will serve as the class leader. If Republicans remain in the majority in 2022 and Renner is still in office, he will become speaker during his fourth and final term in office.
Renner only needed 14 votes to win on Friday but received 16. Second-place candidate Rep. Jamie Grant, of Tampa, got nine votes. The other two candidates were Rep. Erin Grall, who lives in Vero Beach, and Naples Rep. Byron Donalds.
Grant said after the vote that he still counted the experience as a success because all four candidates adhered to new rules that prohibited them from formally asking for support until after the 2017 session. In previous iterations, speaker’s races sometimes settled before freshman members had even been sworn into office.
“From beginning to end, when we said meritocracy, when we said ‘no deals,’ when we said all of the things that people said were crazy: we kept those (promises),” Grant said. “And so that is success.”
Until a few weeks ago, Rep. Randy Fine was a fifth candidate. The south Brevard County representative said Friday that he threw his support behind Renner after observing “a maturity of leadership.”
“I think he earned the admiration of the class in how he pursued it, and I think you can see that based on how the results went today,” Fine said.
Before leaving the room, the representatives gathered in a circle for a prayer of unity. The Legislature will formally convene in September for committee meetings ahead of the 2018 session.