INTERVIEWS: FLORIDA CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR - EDUCATION FOCUS
- HEF Admin | Jason Crawford
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Today Jason Crawford and Brenda Dickinson hosted on the podcast the interviews conducted with the candidates for FLORIDA GOVERNOR! 10 questions hyper-focused on education, parental rights, and governance.
WE INVITED:
Bobby Williams - Republican - Grass Roots
Rachel Rodriguez - Republican Grass Roots
Jason Pizzo - NPA
Paul Renner - Republican
James Fishback - Republican
Jay Collins - Republican
Dotie Joseph - Democrat
David Jolly - Democrat
Byron Donalds - Republican
Watch the Full Episode 148 here:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/NQ0QpvJGw18
(SPOTIFY HAS A POLL)
Apple Podcast, iHeart Radio and Others: https://www.flhef.org/podcast
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Disclaimer: We are not endorsing any particular candidate. We encourage every voter to do their own research and come to their own conclusions. We hosted these interviews and sent out invitations to candidates from ALL sides in an effort to be non-partisan and get answers from as many as possible. We only received 2 responses accepting the invitations. The invites were sent out Jun 25 for a July 13th episode deadline. We kept the deadline open until 10:30am the MORNING OF going live to give all candidates time to join us virtually and record their interview. The promise was that the interviews would be aired uncut and unedited.
Here is a copy of the invitation that was sent to each candidate 3 times.
Dear [Candidate] / Campaign Team,
On behalf of the Home Education Foundation (FLHEF.ORG), I would like to formally invite you, [Candidate], to appear as a guest for a specialized, highly focused interview regarding the future of governance, liberty, and educational freedom in the state of Florida.
The #HEFPodcast gets about 40,000+ reach monthly, and is hyper-focused on Florida and Home Education.
Who We Are & Our Legacy:
The Home Education Foundation (HEF) holds a historic place in Florida’s educational landscape. Our story began in the early 1980s when our co-founder, Brenda Dickinson, alongside her late husband Craig, championed and co-authored the very legislation that legalized and recognized parent-directed home education in Florida in 1985. For over four decades, Brenda has served as a dedicated, full-time voice and watchdog at the Capitol in Tallahassee, evaluating thousands of bills to protect families' constitutional rights. Today, FLHEF continues this vital mission, ensuring our vast community of home educators and parent advocates remains deeply informed, vigilant, and legally secure.
Our Diverse Community & Core Values:
The FLHEF platform is strictly non-partisan, independent, and fiercely neutral. We do not look at political "jersey colors" or cultural divides. Our community represents a rich, vibrant tapestry of religious, secular, racial, and ideological diversity. We are everyday Florida voters driven by a desire for options, excellence, and customized opportunities for our children.
Despite this diverse makeup, our audience stands completely united under three non-negotiable core values:
Self-Governance: We believe families are the foundational building blocks of society and thrive best when free from unnecessary bureaucratic intervention.
Freedom: We champion the liberty of families to choose the educational path that best aligns with their convictions, without state-imposed constraints.
Parental Authority: We view the parent as the ultimate, supreme authority over their families and children, maintaining that no state or institutional entity supersedes this innate right.
Interview Structure, Scope & Main Theme:
Our community consists of families who have made profound personal and financial sacrifices for decades—paying into the public system while simultaneously funding their children’s custom educations out of pocket. They want to hear exactly where the future Governor stands on the clear balance of power in education.
The overarching theme for this interview series is:
Our Children. Our Choices. Are You Committed to Keeping Education in Parents' Hands?
To respect your time during a busy election cycle, we have designed a strict, hyper-focused format. Unlike our typical 1-hour live broadcasts, these candidate interviews are pre-recorded individually and will be compiled into a back-to-back "mega-episode" for our audience.
The Timeline: The entire interview is strictly limited to 20 minutes.
The Format: We will walk through 10 specific questions (attached separately to this email for your review), allowing a dedicated 2 minutes per question.
The Rules of Engagement: Any remaining time from the 20-minute block will be opened for natural dialogue to address any points that need deeper elaboration.
Please Note: This interview is a highly targeted policy discussion. It is not an invitation to discuss your wider campaign platform, nor is it a forum to take aim at political opponents or discuss the general dynamics of the gubernatorial race. To honor our commitment to our listeners, all candidate interviews will air completely uncut and unedited. Because we will not edit these recordings, keeping responses directly within the scope of the questions and the core theme remains the sole responsibility of the candidate. Any deviation into partisan attacks or off-topic campaign rhetoric will result in the removal of the interview from the final episode.
Logistics We are highly flexible and will coordinate with your press team to pre-record this 20-minute segment at a time that best accommodates your travel schedule.
Our Episode 148 is set to air July 13, 2026. It will include all of the candidates who have responded and recorded by that date.
Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your service to the state of Florida. We look forward to receiving your confirmation and scheduling your segment.
Warm regards,
(signed)
Here is an upload of the questions we asked, the packet we sent to them, and the sources cited for the statistics from the podcast and questions.
We hope you found this helpful. It is our aim to help our community by keeping them informed, sharing information, connections, and advocating on their behalf. It is not our mission to endorse a particular candidate.
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If you're interested in more discussion, please head over to our DISCORD SERVER and enjoy connections, engagement, conversation or get key questions answered. There's a channel for each county, and rules for citing sources so that what you get there isn't opinion, but helpful facts and knowledge.