Every major Republican running for Florida governor opposes recreational cannabis legalization. Smart & Safe Florida's failure to gather roughly 880,000 verified petition signatures removed the issue from the 2026 ballot, though nearly 56% of Floridians backed Amendment 3 in November 2024—below the 60% constitutional threshold required for passage.
At a St. Petersburg event Tuesday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds said: "I do not support recreational marijuana. I think the current regulatory system around medicinal use is fine." Donalds has acknowledged being arrested for possessing "a dime bag of marijuana" as a teenager and admitted to selling small amounts as a youth; he now opposes expanding access beyond the 924,820 Floridians registered as medical patients with the state Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
Investment firm CEO James Fishback opposes legalization, citing New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. as cautionary examples, while pledging to protect medical access including for U.S. military veterans. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins posted a video April 26 declaring he accepts no marijuana industry money, stating, "That can't be said for all of my opponents."
Former House Speaker Paul Renner said he would campaign against any future recreational ballot measure as Gov. DeSantis did. DeSantis announced in June 2024 he would use a PAC against Amendment 3 and later spent tens of millions in taxpayer dollars opposing both that measure and an abortion rights amendment, per the Tampa Bay Times.
Among Democrats, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly (Pinellas County) personally voted against Amendment 3 but pledged to legislatively implement any amendment receiving over 50%: "That includes open primaries, recreational marijuana, and Amendment 4 on reproductive freedom." Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who opposed medical marijuana amendments in 2014 and 2016 as Orlando police chief, did not respond to multiple outreach attempts.
President Donald Trump backed Amendment 3 in September 2024, posting on Truth Social that he would vote yes and would work to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. He signed an executive order to that effect in December. The Department of Justice announced last month it would immediately reclassify FDA-approved marijuana and state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III—a category covering drugs with recognized medical uses like Tylenol, unlike Schedule I substances such as heroin and LSD.
