James Fishback, a former Doge architect and hedge fund founder, has quietly stepped into the 2026 Florida governor’s race.  Known for his outspoken views on H-1B visas, Fishback is promising big changes for Florida workers. After accusing American firms of running an “H-1B scam” by not hiring Americans and preferring Indians and Chinese nationals, who account for the largest number of these visas, Fishback has now claimed that he will “fire”  every H-1B visa holder if he wins the race.

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Florida Gubernatorial candidate targets H-1B visa holders

“I’ll fire every H-1B working at a state agency and cancel state contracts with companies that employ H-1Bs instead of qualified Floridians,” Fishback wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I will incentivise companies to hire Americans again.” He also targeted Rep. Byron Donalds, a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate, accusing him of siding with corporate interests over American workers. “H-1Byron won’t do jack but shill for his H-1B corporate donors,” Fishback added.

The former DOGE architect, who once worked alongside Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, recently laid out his 2026 gubernatorial pitch, saying he’s running to succeed Ron DeSantis as Florida’s next Republican governor. He vowed to end the “H-1B scam, block companies like Blackstone from buying Florida homes, cancel large AI data centres, and even abolish property taxes.” 

‘Great replacement’

One of the most controversial parts of his campaign is his talk of a “great replacement,” legal immigration programs that, he says, take jobs from Americans. “You can’t make America great again with Chinese. You can’t make America great again with Indians. You can’t make America great again with Haitians. You have to make America great again with Americans,” he told Meteor Magazine during an interview. 

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Fishback argues that legal immigrants often fill roles that could go to Americans, and sometimes local workers even train their replacements. He says it’s personal, his father lost his landscaping business after Haitian migrants arrived on TPS after the 2010 earthquake.

“Illegal immigration has been a primary concern for establishment Republicans but each one of many programs, such as OPT or other sorts of legal immigration programs, the prospect of 600,000 Chinese students coming to study at our universities, those by definition take spots and slots, jobs away from American citizens and my campaign is the one that stands up and says “America is for Americans” and we have to stop apologizing for that,” he added. 

Fishback claimed that any company doing business with Florida must choose between keeping state contracts or their H-1B employees, and vowed to fire any state agency worker on an H-1B on his first day as governor.

Who is James Fishback?

Fishback is a 30‑year‑old American investor and political newcomer from Florida. He is the co‑founder and CEO of an investment firm called Azoria Partners, which he launched in 2023. He also runs Incubate Debate, a nonprofit that helps high school students develop debating skills. Fishback gained attention in June 2025 when he stepped away from DOGE following Elon Musk’s criticism of Donald Trump, demanding an apology from Musk for what he called “baseless personal attacks” on the president. 

 In December, he visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to introduce the Azoria Meritocracy ETF, an investment fund focused on S&P 500 companies that avoid diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.