The billionaire who helped drive Florida’s upcoming $15 minimum wage and the push to legalize medical marijuana is making another play to disrupt politics in the Sunshine State — and there’s potentially $100,000 in it for you.
John Morgan, the attorney behind personal injury giant Morgan and Morgan, says he’ll pay $100,000 to whoever comes up with the best name for a new centrist political party he wants to launch.
On Monday, the former major Democratic donor said he intends to bankroll a new middle-of-the-road political movement in Florida. He also signaled he won’t be entering this year’s race for governor, noting that at 70 years old, “time marches on.”
So far, Morgan hasn’t offered many specifics about what the party will look like, beyond the idea that it will focus on issues where Floridians can “agree on most things.” That means anyone chasing the six-figure naming prize will be working with limited guidance.
Morgan said on Monday: “I believe that what ails us is the two-party system. Most of us agree on most things, but if you put the D up and the R up, nothing ever gets done.” Adding: “I hope we in Florida can kickstart a real third party movement in the United States.”
Talk of Morgan mounting an unconventional third-party run for the Governor’s Mansion had been building, fueled by his high public profile from successful ballot campaigns on minimum wage and medical marijuana — along with the financial firepower to compete statewide.
Morgan is believed to be worth more than $1.5 billion, but he suggested the demands of running aren’t appealing compared to the life he currently enjoys.
The attorney, who spends much of the year in Maui, wrote: “I do like living in Hawaii, I do like my marijuana, and I do like spending time with my grandchildren.”
Today I have an announcement to make… pic.twitter.com/S2sZ5UFUMW
— John Morgan (@JohnMorganESQ) April 13, 2026
He’s also outlined how the $100,000 naming contest could be structured, telling Politico: “I need to be careful so as to follow the law for such contests and to set strict rules. Because there can only be one winner and there may be multiple people with the same name.”
Morgan said he expects to file the party’s founding paperwork “in the coming days.” With the qualifying deadline for the governor’s race roughly two months away, the timeline is tight if the new group is to be fully operational in time for the 2026 contest.
The broader political environment in Florida is another factor. Republicans have recently held a notable advantage in public voting intention across statewide races, reflecting how firmly the GOP has controlled what was once seen as a swing-state battleground.
Still, an Emerson poll of likely voters indicates that about one in six Floridians remain undecided heading into the November elections.
Morgan appears to be betting that those undecided voters — along with a large share of Democratic voters — could rally behind a centrist alternative, giving his not-yet-named party a chance to consolidate disaffected voters after a decade of Republican dominance in Tallahassee.