Broward Schools livestream screenshot
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In a departure from his usual rage-bait and white nationalist content on social media, far-right gubernatorial candidate James Fishback on Sunday shared a clip of himself giving what was supposed to be an inspirational speech for graduates of the Broward County high school he once attended.
“In 2023, I was honored to deliver the commencement address at my alma mater, Boyd H. Anderson High School,” Fishback posted.
In the four-minute clip, he congratulated the graduating seniors on earning the “most comprehensive degree our country has to offer,” celebrated their futures, implored them to become leaders, and shared clichés like “live, learn, laugh, love.” Although he says he doesn’t remember who invited him to be the commencement speaker, Fishback tells New Times that it should not be shocking, given that he is “probably the most famous Broward County Schools alum in the last 20 years, even prior to my governor’s run.”
However, there is one big problem. He wasn’t speaking to the class of 2023, nor was he the commencement speaker.
The clip that he shared was, in fact, from the 2022 Boyd H. Anderson High School graduation ceremony, and the commencement speaker was a chief administrative officer of a West Palm Beach healthcare company. Fishback was introduced as a “former student” and spoke for less than five minutes, whereas the commencement speaker spoke for nearly 20 minutes. The clip he shared on X was his full speech.
The timing matters because the Broward School District has said it cut ties with Fishback and a student debate organization he runs in 2022 over sexual misconduct allegations involving a minor. The candidate has denied those claims.
Born in Davie to a Colombian mother, Fishback throughout his campaign has used white nationalist and racist rhetoric against his opponent, Rep. Byron Donalds, including calling him a “slave to donors. Fishback graduated in 2013 from Boyd Anderson, whose student population is 87 percent Black.
In 2019, Fishback created Incubate Debate, a debate league for middle and high school students. He worked with several school districts in Florida, including Broward County, to coach debate students and host debate tournaments. As first reported by NBC News last year, the Broward School District allegedly “cut ties” with Fishback and his debate program in 2022 after receiving emails from the mother of a student in the organization, alleging that he was having an inappropriate relationship with a minor student in the debate program.
Keinah Fort, who unsuccessfully asked the court for an order of protection in January against Fishback, said he “initiated a romantic relationship” with her in spring 2022 when she was 17, and he was 27 and “explicitly directed” her to keep the relationship a secret. She said in court records that they moved in together in the spring of 2023, after she turned 18, and that they were engaged for a short period thereafter. According to the court records, Fishback threw objects across the room and screamed at her “on multiple occasions.”
After this story was published, Broward schools spokesman John Sullivan told New Times that when the district received the email detailing the allegations, it was already concerned with “Fishback’s failure to follow district safeguards and protocols, including contacting students directly.”
“As a result of our experience, the District revoked his ability to volunteer or to be left alone with our students,” his statement continued.
In a Tuesday phone call with New Times, Fishback says the school district never “cut ties” with him because students still attend his tournaments, and there was no official contract or partnership to end. He vehemently denies the sexual misconduct allegations from the former student and argues that it was an attempt to extort him for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He adds that it is “objectively untrue” that he was banned from Broward schools, claiming that the school district has praised his debate program on social media and that he was named the volunteer of the year in 2022. (The school district provided New Times with a list of volunteers of the year for 2022. Fishback was not on it.) He points out that he was at a Broward School Board meeting in 2024 to recognize the Incubate Debate national champion and a Broward school student.
“As of two weeks ago, I had hosted a dozen Broward students for a tournament,” Fishback said in reference to Incubate Debate.
He contends that the mother had sent an anonymous email to Broward Schools because her daughter was kicked out of the debate program.
“Who sends an anonymous email?” Fishback asks. “Why didn’t she go to the police?”
(New Times was not able to independently confirm whether police were contacted.)
Fishback says the allegations are an attempt to extort him and hurt his campaign now that he says he is “surging in the polls.” A February poll of likely Republican primary voters from the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab found Donalds leads the race at 28 percent, followed by Casey DeSantis with 24 percent, and Fishback in third with just 4 percent of the vote.
Since launching his long-shot, far-right governor’s campaign, the 31-year-old has emerged as the “Groyper candidate,” as he has gained popularity among Gen-Z men and followers of white nationalist and anti-Semite Nick Fuentes. He routinely launches racist attacks on his opponent and GOP favorite Donalds, whom he refers to as “By’rone,” and a slave. Last month, Fishback posted a video of himself shooting an assault rifle, demanding Donalds to “pull up” to prove he is “actually Black.”
Fishback, the CEO and founder of the investment firm Azoria Capital, is also dealing with growing financial issues. Aside from getting his 2022 Tesla Model Y repossessed (and supposedly his couch?), his lawyer in a lawsuit filed by his former employer, Greenlight Capital, just quit over $150,000 in unpaid legal fees.
