Jay Fant

History

Fant was born in Jacksonville in 1968 to an established family; the Fant Family first moved to the area in 1920 and started First Guaranty Bank in 1947. He attended Washington and Lee University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1990, and then the Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1994. Upon graduation, he returned home and was elected to serve on the board of First Guaranty Bank. Fant worked in trust administration and corporate management until 2003, when he was named the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank. He remained President until 2009, when he was promoted to Chairman, and his employment with the bank came to a close in 2012. By then, the bank had failed because it had acquired a number of troubled loans and had received a number of poor financial stability ratings from independent firms, and it was in negotiations to be purchased by CertusBank. However, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in at that point and the bank went into FDIC receivership. Fant began working with CenterState, which ended up as the owner of First Guaranty Bank, as a senior legal counsel and on the advisory board.

Florida House of Representatives

In 2014, incumbent State Representative Daniel Davis declined to seek a third term in the legislature, Fant ran to succeed him. He faced attorney Paul Renner in the Republican primary, and both candidates agreed on the need to expand the Port of Jacksonville, to attract jobs to the state, and to provide more school choice to parents. Fant also called for increased assistance and incentives to veterans, noting, "I have a proposal that would encourage vets, when they come back and retire from the military, to start their businesses in Florida, and they'll get some breaks on the licensing fees to do that." During the campaign, Fant incorrectly claimed endorsements from the National Rifle Association and Florida Right to Life, neither of which had made an endorsement in the contest, though they gave both candidates "A" ratings. Fant's campaign corrected the video, which the candidate had made during an interview with the Florida Times-Union's editorial board. Ultimately, the contest proved to be close, with Fant finishing just three votes ahead of Renner, prompting a manual recount. The recounct lowered Fant's margin to just two votes but uncovered no additional errors, and Renner conceded to him.

In the general election, Fant faced only write-in opposition, and easily won his first term in the legislature with nearly 100% of the vote.