The Conservative Case Against David Jolly

Florida already has a proven conservative ready to lead it. Byron Donalds is a former banker, a two-term state legislator, a congressman endorsed by President Trump and the Republican nominee for Governor. On Tuesday, November 3, Polk County voters should send him and his running mate, Bryan Avila, to Tallahassee.

His opponent, Democrat David Jolly, wants to be Florida's chief executive. Before voters give him that trust, they should look at the record he has built, the party he left and the positions he holds today. All of it is on the public record, much of it in his own words.

The Washington lobbyist

Jolly was born in Dunedin in 1972 and went to Washington after college. He worked on the staff of U.S. Rep. Bill Young from 1994 to 2006.

On January 1, 2007, he left that office to become a lobbyist at Van Scoyoc Associates, a Washington firm. In 2011 he opened his own lobbying shop, Three Bridges Advisors, and stayed until he de-registered as a lobbyist to run for Congress. When he ran in 2013, a Republican rival called him an out-of-town lobbyist.

One term, then out

Jolly won a special election on March 11, 2014 and was re-elected once. In 2016 he lost his seat. His entire congressional career lasted less than three years.

He has never held executive office. He has never run a city, a county or a state agency.

The party switch

In 2018 Jolly announced on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher that he had left the Republican Party. "I left the party about five weeks ago. My wife and I both did," he said, to cheers from the studio audience. He had already said that Democrats should take control of the House.

He spent the next years as a regular contributor on MSNBC, building a national profile as an anti-Trump commentator. In April 2025 he registered as a Democrat. He told WLRN he had considered himself "part of the Democratic coalition" for about five years, and that "the actual registration as a Democrat wasn't a pivot. It was a kind of a formality."

Read that again. By his own account, he was in the Democratic coalition for years before he told voters.

Republican to independent to Democrat. Florida has seen this before with Charlie Crist, who went from Republican governor to independent to Democrat and lost three statewide races along the way. It did not work then, either.

What he would do as governor

Jolly's positions are not a matter of guesswork. He has stated them.

• Abortion. He has pledged to be a "pro-choice governor" and to replace Florida's six-week limit with a statute making abortion legal until fetal viability, about 23 to 24 weeks.
• Recreational marijuana. Jolly says he voted against the 2024 marijuana amendment. As governor he would push to legalize it anyway: "the majority of the state asked for it, and I think that we should do it."
• Immigration. He says Republicans have "conflated immigration and crime," which he called wrong and immoral, while Florida works with President Trump to remove illegal immigrants.
• Guns. In his words: "more gun violence prevention." He describes himself as "progressive on gun policy."
• Property taxes. He calls the Republican approach to property tax cuts irresponsible and wants any cut paired with new ways to raise money for local governments.

His running mate is former Democratic congresswoman Gwen Graham.

The choice for Governor

Florida deserves a governor who will protect taxpayers, back law enforcement and keep building on what Gov. Ron DeSantis started.

The Republican nominee, Byron Donalds, won 47.8% of the vote in an eleven-candidate primary. He is endorsed by President Trump and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, he voted to keep boys out of girls' sports and he has set a goal of repealing homestead property taxes.

David Jolly is a former lobbyist and a one-term congressman who left the Republican Party for MSNBC and the Democrats. He wants abortion until viability, legal recreational marijuana and more gun control, and he calls the Republican property tax plan irresponsible.

The contrast could not be clearer.

Vote early from Monday, October 19 through Saturday, October 31, at any of Polk County's early voting sites, or vote on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Vote for lower taxes, safe communities and conservative leadership:

Vote Byron Donalds for Governor and Bryan Avila for Lieutenant Governor.

Want to help keep Florida free? Volunteer today at polk.gop/volunteer.

Sources

• JOLLY, David W., U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
• Democrats say David Jolly's old firm lobbied for millions, PolitiFact (January 27, 2014)
• Kathleen Peters says David Jolly was lobbying government, PolitiFact (January 6, 2014)
• David Jolly's journey to U.S. Senate candidate, Florida Politics
• David Jolly dumps the GOP, Florida Politics (2018)
• David Jolly launches campaign for Florida governor as a Democrat, WLRN / Associated Press (June 5, 2025)
• Charlie Crist, PolitiFact
• Former Florida Republican governor Crist becomes a Democrat, Reuters (December 2012)
• Reproductive freedom, David Jolly for Governor campaign site
• Most major Florida gubernatorial candidates say state should never legalize recreational marijuana, Florida Phoenix (May 6, 2026)
• Byron Donalds picks Bryan Avila as running mate, Miami Herald (August 2026)
• August 18, 2026 Republican Primary, Governor, official results, Florida Division of Elections
• Roll Call 12, H.R. 28, Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (January 14, 2025), Office of the Clerk, U.S. House
• Byron Donalds doubles down on cutting, eliminating property taxes, WUSF (September 1, 2026)

Paid political advertisement paid for by the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, 6039 Cypress Gardens Blvd; Box 108, Winter Haven, FL 33884. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.