Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback allegedly had a relationship with a former employee of his organization, Incubate Debate, in 2022 when she was 17 years old, according to recent court filings.
The woman, Keinah Fort, claimed that then-27-year-old Fishback initiated a romantic relationship with her in Spring 2022 and told her to keep it a secret, per an amended petition for a protection order from April 2025, first reported by Florida Politics. The court records say the two lived together and were briefly engaged after Fort turned 18, and that Fishback would frequently lose his temper and throw things at her.
Fort claimed Fishback continued to harass her after they broke up and filed her initial protection request for stalking and cyberstalking in January 2025, the outlet reported. A judge denied the request.
The candidate has denied wrongdoing and claims Fort suffered from mental health issues prior to their relationship, in a statement to Florida Politics.
Broward County School District, one of the state’s largest school districts and one of Incubate Debate’s program partners, cut ties with Fishback and “ended his volunteer work” the same year after learning of the allegations, according to NBC News.
“These allegations from several years ago are completely false, and after two lengthy court hearings in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit, I was fully exonerated,” Fort told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a written statement. “I have never been arrested, charged, or convicted of any crime, unlike my opponent, Byron Donalds, who was arrested in Tallahassee in 2000 for felony theft. Anyone who believes they have been a victim of a crime should file a police report under penalty of perjury, not tell fake stories to NBC.”
Fishback said it was unclear to him what the district was referring to, claiming he never volunteered for it. Incubate Debate hosts free debate tournaments with middle and high schools, according to its X bio.
The district received emails alleging the relationship cited Incubate Debate participants who said they witnessed inappropriate behavior between Fishback and Fort during a program-related trip to a Fishback family home in Winter Haven, according to NBC News.
“I was uncomfortable witnessing their interactions throughout the entire trip,” Demi Moore, a participant in Incubate Debate and a Broward County student on the Winter Haven trip, told the outlet. “They acted more like a couple than student and mentor, and I became convinced that something was going on.”
Moore’s mother, Aebony Moore, alerted the school district to the wrongdoing in September 2022 after the Winter Haven trip.
“James Fishback has been having an inappropriate relationship with a minor, who is in a leadership role for Incubate Debate,” Moore told the district from an anonymous email address.
She and her husband soon received a call from Fishback that lasted 11 minutes, in which Fishback periodically raised his voice, asking why they sent their daughter on the debate-related trip if he was acting inappropriately with minors, according to NBC News, which listened to the recorded phone call.
Fishback then emailed Demi and Aebony Moore, also in September 2022, and threatened to sue for defamation; Fishback never filed the lawsuit.
Nicole Castillo, an Incubate Debate advisory board member, resigned in February 2023 and cited the sexual misconduct allegations as a reason for her departure in her resignation letter. She also added that the program lost a debate venue for a tournament due to the allegations.
“Not once did James disclose to me the true reason the venue fell through — that school administrators were informed of the sexual allegations and prohibited Incubate from operating on their campus,” she wrote in a letter obtained by NBC News.
Fishback, an investment executive with no political experience, has made inflammatory comments during his gubernatorial campaign, referring to his primary opponent, Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, who is black, as a “slave” on X. He also came under scrutiny for proposing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) send $5,000 checks to households using money saved by the initiative.
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