“First and foremost, I think Zohran and I are two good-looking guys in our thirties.” James Fishback, the controversial Republican running for governor of Florida, tells me that it is “not politically wise” to acknowledge his similarities with New York’s new mayor – but he can’t help himself.

Both he and Zohran Mamdani are from privileged families, have taken on their own parties, have harnessed youth activism, are big on social media and have courted the same voters on the same issue: the rising cost of living. And, like 34-year-old Mamdani, at this stage of his campaign, Fishback, 31, needs a boost in the polls. Currently he is polling between 5 and 23 percent, while congressman Byron Donalds leads the Republican primary pack at 37 to 47 percent.

Part of Fishback’s strategy to close the gap is to grab headlines, which has led to accusations he’s a right-wing troll. He called Donalds – a black man – a “slave to donors,” he used the phrase “goyslop” to refer to highly processed food supposedly promoted by oligarchical Jews for gentiles and defended the “groypers” – young men who follow Nick Fuentes. He also instigated a fight with Sophie Rain, an OnlyFans model, after proposing a 50 percent sin tax on the platform.

Mamdani campaigned on free kindergarten places while Fishback is a supporter of paid maternity leave

Mamdani campaigned on free kindergarten places while Fishback is a supporter of paid maternity leave

To his critics, he is a white nationalist who has based his campaign on outrage and will harm the party he represents. But he tells me he is not a racist or an anti-Semite. “As a proud Christian, I could never bring myself to discriminate against someone on something that they could not control as an immutable characteristic, like the fact that they are black or white.”

Another more substantive way in which he hopes to close the gap with Donalds is by making inroads with Democratic voters and even stealing some party policies wholesale. (The number of Democrats is growing in Florida, with Miami electing its first Democratic mayor in 30 years in December.)

Following Mamdani’s lead, Fishback is leaning in to the cost-of-living crisis – and babies. Mamdani campaigned on free kindergarten places for two-year-olds while Fishback is an ardent, and somewhat unlikely supporter, as a Republican, of paid maternity leave. It’s one issue, among others, on which he breaks with GOP orthodoxy. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, there has been a shift in thinking toward the issue among some Republicans who believe women should be given financial support to have babies they don’t think they can afford. Some believe lessening the financial burden........

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