David Jolly runs for Florida governor as Democrat

David Jolly, a former Republican congressman turned Democrat, is running for Florida governor in the Nov. 3 general election.

Jolly won the Democratic primary on Aug. 18 and will face Republican Byron Donalds along with six other candidates, according to NBC News. The other candidates on the ballot are Charles Burkett, Dean Ocean Abrams, Frank Russo, Jeffrey Peter Datto, Moliere Dimanche and Scott Jewett, according to BallotReady election data.

Candidate information

Party: Democratic
Born: Oct. 31, 1972, in Dunedin, Florida
Hometown: Grew up in Dade City, Florida. Lives in Pinellas County with his wife Laura and their young family, according to his campaign website.
Family: Fifth-generation Floridian and son of Baptist minister Lawson Jolly, Jolly said on his campaign website.
Education: Bachelor's degree from Emory University (1994); law degree from George Mason University (2001), according to BallotReady.
Running mate: Former Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Graham, who represented Florida's 2nd Congressional District, according to Wikipedia.

Experience and public service

Jolly served as staff and general counsel in the office of U.S. Representative Bill Young of Florida's 13th Congressional District from 1995 to 2006, according to Wikipedia. He worked as a lobbyist at Van Scoyoc Associates from 2007 to 2011 and founded Three Bridges Advisors in 2011, according to BallotReady.

He represented Florida's 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 2014 to 2017 as a Republican. His work on campaign finance reform was featured on CBS' "60 Minutes" while he was in Congress, Jolly said on his campaign website.

Jolly left the Republican Party in September 2018. He spent several years as an independent, according to Wikipedia. He co-founded the Forward Party in 2022. He registered as a Democrat in April 2025 and launched his gubernatorial bid in June 2025.

He served as a political analyst at NBC and MSNBC, according to his campaign website. He also worked as executive vice president and principal at Shumaker Advisors Florida in 2018, according to Wikipedia.

On the issues

Jolly has outlined positions on several policy areas on his campaign issues page:

Housing and insurance: Jolly said the property insurance crisis is the primary reason many Floridians struggle to afford a home. He proposed a state catastrophic fund that would remove natural disaster perils from the private market, which he said would reduce property and car insurance rates. He also called for a no-interest state-backed loan program for condominium associations facing costly repairs.

Education: Jolly proposed a 10-year plan to revitalize public education, including increasing teacher pay by 30 percent, according to Wikipedia. He said the state voucher program is built on an economic model likely to collapse and called for means-testing vouchers and capping tuition inflation for voucher students.

Environment: Jolly said Florida should accept the science of climate change, protect beaches and state parks, and invest in resiliency. He called for greater integration of clean energy technologies into public utilities, saying those technologies can drive down utility costs.

Healthcare: Jolly said Florida should expand Medicaid, calling it a critical program that supports childbirth care, long-term care for seniors and hospital funding statewide.

LGBTQ+ rights and personal freedom: Jolly said he opposes government regulation of personal decisions. "I simply subscribe to the old-school Republican position that government should stay out of your life, out of your doctor's office, and out of your bedroom," Jolly said, according to Wikipedia.