TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A former Republican congressman and vocal critic of Donald Trump says he wants to become governor in the president’s adopted home state of Florida, and that he’s running as a Democrat.
The attorney and former lobbyist underwent a political evolution that spurred him to leave the Republican Party in 2018 to become an independent and then a registered Democrat.
“I struggled to exercise those values in the Republican Party,” Jolly said, continuing: “The actual registration as a Democrat wasn’t a pivot.
Jolly skewered Republicans who he said have ”conflated immigration and crime,” which he described as wrong and immoral.
Jolly joined the Florida Democratic Party at what is arguably one of its most vulnerable points in years.
Tallahasse, Florida. A former Republican congressman who has been a strong opponent of Donald Trump has declared his intention to run as a Democrat for governor of Florida, the president’s adopted home state.
David Jolly, the most recent party convert attempting to regain control of the nation’s top swing state, which has undergone a significant rightward shift in recent years, formally announced his bid on Thursday. State law stipulates that the Republican governor’s term is limited. For 2026, Ron DeSantis is unable to run for reelection.
Jolly asserts that he is certain that issues like affordability, public school funding, and bolstering campaign finance and ethics laws will be important to all voters in 2026, despite Florida being a location for the Trump administration to hire personnel and test policies. He believes that the upcoming elections will signal a shift in the country.
Actually, I believe that Tallahassee Republicans have polarized us too much. “I think we should get politicians out of doctor’s offices and out of classrooms,” Jolly said.
“I believe that enough Floridians, including some Republicans, now recognize that. that the cultural conflicts have escalated,” he declared.
Initially elected in a 2014 special election to his congressional seat representing the Tampa Bay area, Jolly was reelected for a single term. After undergoing a political transformation, the lawyer and former lobbyist decided to switch from the Republican Party to the Independent Party and eventually register as a Democrat in 2018. As an anti-Trump political analyst on MSNBC, he has also established a national reputation.
Jolly stated that he has been “part of the Democratic coalition” for about five years and holds to what he considers to be the party’s “fundamental values”: that immigrants should be welcomed, that the government can assist people, and that the economy should be “fair” to everyone.
Jolly continued, “The actual registration as a Democrat wasn’t a pivot,” adding that she found it difficult to exercise those values in the Republican Party. It served as a sort of formality. “”.
As lawmakers in Florida scramble to assist Trump in carrying out his pledge of mass deportations, Jolly has split from his former party on immigration issues. Republicans, according to Jolly, have “conflated immigration and crime,” which is wrong and immoral.
“If you were born here, if you immigrated here, or if you’re a Tallahassee politician who embezzles Medicaid money, we’re going to be tough on crime,” Jolly continued, alluding to an investigation into how a charity connected to first lady Casey DeSantis used Medicaid settlement funds.
Jolly’s Democratic bid for governor is compared to Charlie Crist’s unsuccessful 2022 bid, in which the former Republican congressman turned independent and Democrat lost to DeSantis by 19 points. In 2016, Jolly lost his congressional seat to Crist, who was running as a Democrat.
Jolly joined the Florida Democratic Party at a time when it may have been at its weakest. There are currently 1.2 million more registered Republicans than Democrats in Florida, according to the state’s active voter rolls, and no Democrats have been elected to statewide office. Miami-Dade County and other formerly Democratic strongholds in the state have seen notable gains for the GOP.
On the same day that Jolly declared his new affiliation, Jason Pizzo, the leading Democrat in the Florida Senate at the time, announced his departure from the party, saying that “the Democratic Party in Florida is dead.”. The former prosecutor Pizzo has declared that he will run for governor on his own as an independent candidate.
Jolly will run against Rep. Trump on the Republican side. Byron Donalds, who frequently appears on cable news as the president’s stand-in. Other names mentioned as possible GOP candidates include former Rep. Matt Gaetz and DeSantis, Casey.
