Former House Speaker Paul Renner pledged Tuesday to pursue an aggressive stance against radical Islam if elected in November, saying it is time to be “realistic and honest that the long-term compatibility of Islam in this country does not exist.”
Saying he was speaking out after a series of terrorist attacks in the United States, the Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate promised: “As governor, I will propose and promote a federal ban on Muslim immigration to our country.”
“It is permanent and comprehensive. With respect to those who have terrorist ties or defraud taxpayers or do any other serious crime that we’ve seen that I’ve listed, upon conviction they should be de-naturalized and deported immediately. I will aggressively enforce the Florida Legislature’s recent law with respect to Sharia law being used in our courts. Only American law can be used in American courts and that should go without saying,” he said during a press conference in Tampa.
“We should also with respect with HB 1, the universal school choice scholarship, which I was a champion of as speaker, we would immediately end any funding for schools that promote Sharia law concepts, which are antithetical to the Constitution and the American way of life.”
He maintained that his comment about a lack of compatibility between Islam and America was “not a statement of animosity. It’s a statement of fact. And we have to act accordingly.”
The bill just passed by the Legislature that Renner referred to (HB 1471) gives a handful of state officials the power to designate an organization a domestic terrorist group and bans any Florida court from enforcing any provision of Sharia law. It will soon be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for his consideration.
DeSantis designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as “terrorist organizations” in December. CAIR Florida immediately filed a lawsuit calling that executive order unconstitutional, and a federal judge blocked its implementation earlier this month. (The DeSantis administration is appealing.)
Renner’s call for a federal ban on Muslim integration comes nine months after President Trump issued a proclamation limiting the entry of nationals from 12 nations into the U.S., including Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equitorial Guinea, and Eritrea.
The former House Speaker’s tough rhetoric against Muslims echoes similar comments made by Republicans around the country this year, which has only increased since the U.S. military attacked Iran 24 days ago. It’s certainly a long way from former President George W. Bush’s comment in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that “Islam is peace.”
Renner himself made similar anti-Islam comments during a campaign event in Clearwater in December, asserting there are “Islamists who refuse to assimilate and have no intention of assimilating. And what they want is to get to point of dominance and force us to assimilate to them.”
No one has made more controversial comments against Muslims over the past decade than Renner’s former colleague in the Florida Legislature, Northeast Florida U.S. Rep. Randy Fine. Earlier this month, Fine tweeted, “We need more Islamaphobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational.”
“My words are my words, his works are his words,” Renner said when asked about Fine’s comment. But he added that he thought Fine’s point “was well taken that there is an immediate pushback of any criticism of things that we need to be clear-eyed about.”
Momentum shifting in GOP race?
Renner has been languishing behind front-runner Byron Donalds in nearly every reputable public opinion survey in the GOP race for governor this year, but he boasted about an informal straw poll of 105 members of Republican Liberty Caucus & Republican Party of Northeast Florida taken last week in which 57% of those surveyed named him as their GOP gubernatorial choice. He won similar a straw poll among Republicans in Gilchrist County on Monday night with 61% of the vote, to Donalds’ 26%.
“I do believe based on the contact I have and the events we’re doing on the ground, the momentum is absolutely shifting our way,” Renner said. “There’s no enthusiasm for Congressman Donalds. He has no record of leadership. Ever. And he has no record of results. He can’t point to a single thing that he’s done to champion the conservative cause, where he’ll build the free state of Florida.”
Renner said that, alongside DeSantis and the Florida Legislature (where he served as House Speaker from 2022-2024), “We built the free state of Florida and for him to come in with a lot of smoke and mirrors is not going to get it done. And there’s a lack of enthusiasm among the grassroots for his candidacy which will play out over time.”
The Phoenix reached out to both the Florida and national chapters of CAIR for comment. A spokesman for the national organization said that they “may be limited to what we can say since [Renner] is a candidate,” but provided links to recent press releases regarding a recently formed “Sharia-Free American Caucus” in Congress that includes Fine.
“Let’s be clear: ‘Shariah’ simply means ‘path’ in Arabic,” said CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab. “Every major faith tradition has its own form of religious law — or shariah — guiding personal and private communal practice. Muslims follow Islamic shariah principles; Christians follow Christian shariah principles (canon law); Jews follow Jewish shariah principles (halakha). These systems govern personal aspects of religious life — such as diet, prayer, marriage, and burial rites — and are protected under the First Amendment.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
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