After more than a year of speculation, Orlando’s most famous lawyer, John Morgan, announced Monday that he will not be entering the race for Florida governor this year, despite admitting he received consistent encouragement to do so.
Still, the saucy billionaire did confirm in a video clip posted to social media platform X Monday morning that he plans to file paperwork to create a third political party in Florida “in the coming days.” And he’s willing to pay $100,000 to whomever can come up with the best name for it.
Morgan, founder of the personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan, referenced two successful constitutional amendments he helped bankroll — to legalize medical marijuana in Florida and raise the state minimum wage — as evidence that a third party is necessary to overcome the opposition between the two major political parties.
Of the nearly 14 million people registered to vote in Florida, as of Feb. 28, roughly 5.5 million voters are registered as Republicans, 4 million are registered as Democrats, and 3.8 million voters are registered with another minor party or with no party affiliation.
“I found that with my amendments, if you take the ‘D’ down and the ‘R’ down, we agree on most things together,” Morgan argued. His effort to legalize medical marijuana in Florida took two shots at the ballot box, but ultimately passed in 2016 with a resounding 73 percent of the vote (overcoming the 60 percent threshold enshrined in Florida’s state constitution for constitutional amendments). A separate ballot measure to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour also passed in 2020, with Morgan’s financial support, earning a 61 percent vote of support.
“I believe what’s missing in Florida and across the country is a third party,” Morgan argued. “To name it, I’m going to pay the winner of the contest $100,000. So be thinking of your name,” he teased. Although not specified in the video message, Morgan told Politico after the clip was posted that he’ll be announcing submission rules for the political party name “soon.”
Morgan, who celebrated his 70th birthday last month, has teased the idea of campaigning for Florida governor multiple times over the past decade. So that’s nothing new. This Monday, however, he admitted that as “time marches on,” he’s unsure of how much energy he’s got left in his tank.
He said “there was really one way” he would have decided to enter the competitive 2026 gubernatorial race this year, where he’d be facing off against Trump-endorsed candidate Byron Donalds and his $67 million war chest.
“I would do it if someone entered the race that I really had a problem with, and I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Morgan stated plainly.
Besides, there’d be certain sacrifices he’d have to make to his current lifestyle — including the winters he spends in Maui.
“I do like living in Hawaii. I do like my marijuana, and I do like spending time with my grandchildren,” said Morgan, who has three sons and one daughter.
“I do like living in Hawaii, I do like my marijuana, and I do like spending time with my grandchildren.”
John Morgan, upon announcing he will not run for Florida governor in 2026
Will this be the end of speculation over the idea of Gov. John Morgan? Although Morgan seemed quite definitive this time, who’s to say.
As it stands, more than two dozen people have already filed paperwork to run for governor this year to replace outgoing term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.
President Donald Trump, a Florida resident himself, has already endorsed GOP Congressman Byron Donalds as DeSantis’s successor. Former Florida House speaker Paul Renner, right-wing troll James Fishback and lieutenant-governor Jay Collins have also jumped into the fray for governor and will face off against Donalds in the upcoming August primary election.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, former U.S. House Rep. David Jolly — a former Republican-turned-Democrat who’s leading in fundraising — appears to be the frontrunner in a primary pitting Jolly against Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.
Morgan described Demings as an “old friend” in conversation with Politico, but told the news outlet that his top pick for governor would have been Florida’s state agricultural commissioner, Wilton Simpson. Simpson — a Republican, an egg farmer and the former state Senate president — has not filed paperwork to run in this year’s gubernatorial race.
As for the current state of play, Florida hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1994. And although the Florida Democratic Party is feeling pretty good about its victories in two special election races earlier this month — including for a House district containing Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort — the GOP still has the edge on registered Florida voters by more than 1 million. Still, recent polling has found that many Florida voters remain undecided on who they believe should occupy the governor’s mansion next.
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