Charlie Crist switched parties and lost Florida by 19 points.
Now another Republican-turned-Democrat thinks he can pull off what Crist couldn’t.
Byron Donalds just challenged David Jolly to three debates – and what happens next exposes everything wrong with the Florida Democrat Party.
The Man Who Couldn’t Make Up His Mind
David Jolly was a Republican congressman from Tampa until he decided opposing Donald Trump was more important than his party, his voters, and his principles.
He spent years as an MSNBC regular, collecting a paycheck to tell liberals what they wanted to hear about the man Florida voters chose twice.
Then he registered as a Democrat.
Then he announced he was running for governor.
https://twitter.com/ByronDonalds/status/2079272629341483244?s=20
Now he’s the leading Democrat in a primary where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 1.4 million registered voters.
The Florida GOP chairman had the most honest thing anyone has said about Jolly in years: “No matter the issue, David Jolly has been on all sides of it.”
That includes abortion.
Jolly spent his years in Congress as a Republican who believed life begins at conception.
Now, running as a Democrat, his views have “evolved.”
Ten years is all it takes, apparently.
The Debate Donalds Is Ready For
Byron Donalds raised $67 million for this race.
He holds 54% of Republican primary voters – a nine-point gain since January.
Trump endorsed him.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders endorsed him.
Rick Scott endorsed him.
Jeff Landry endorsed him.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2079281455985745977?s=20
Mike Johnson endorsed him.
The Republican Party of Florida measured the field and determined only Donalds qualified for an official primary debate.
Not because they rigged it.
Because nobody else is close.
So while Jolly tries to convince Florida Democrats he’s their best shot at ending 27 years of Republican governance in Tallahassee, Donalds is already campaigning for the general – challenging the Democrat directly, on camera, three times.
“You see, David Jolly and I, we have very different views about the future of Florida,” Donalds said in his challenge posted to X.
He’s not wrong.
Jolly wants gun control, more government in your schools, and abortion on demand – positions he didn’t hold a decade ago when he was collecting a Republican paycheck in Congress.
Florida Doesn’t Do This
Democrats haven’t held the Florida governor’s mansion since 1999.
Let that settle in for a moment.
Twenty-seven years.
Charlie Crist was a popular Republican governor who switched parties and ran as a Democrat in 2014 – and lost.
Then he ran again in 2022 – and lost by 19 points.
The last time a Democrat actually won a Florida governor’s race was 1994.
Jolly’s team thinks the affordability crisis – housing costs, property insurance, inflation – gives them an opening.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2079295154075087250?s=20
But Jolly’s answer is bigger government, more spending, and the same national Democrat Party agenda that produced the inflation his campaign is running against.
He can’t run away from that in three debates.
That’s exactly why Donalds issued the challenge.
The Stakes Are Simple
Donalds wants to cut property insurance costs by expanding the market, not regulating it to death.
He wants parents choosing their children’s schools, not bureaucrats in Tallahassee choosing for them.
He wants to keep Florida the number one destination in America for businesses fleeing California and New York – and he knows that happens with low taxes, not Jolly’s spending agenda.
Jolly isn’t running to move Florida forward.
He’s running to take it back – back to the national Democrat agenda, back to the party that gave America open borders and $7 gasoline, back to the MSNBC worldview he spent years promoting.
Three debates.
Donalds in one corner.
Jolly and 27 years of failed Democrat attempts in the other.
Florida voters already know how this ends.
Sources:
- Frank Kopylov, “Byron Donalds challenges Democrat David Jolly to three debates for Florida governor race,” FL Voice News, July 20, 2026.
- “Latest 2026 Florida GOP gubernatorial poll shows Byron Donalds blowing away the rest of the field,” Florida Phoenix, January 9, 2026.
- “Florida 2026 Poll: Donalds Leads GOP Primary for Governor,” Emerson College Polling, April 2, 2026.
- “Latest poll shows Byron Donalds at 54% with GOP Primary voters,” Florida Politics, May 4, 2026.
- Matt Dixon, “Former Republican David Jolly launches longshot bid for Florida governor as a Democrat,” NBC News, 2025.
- “David Jolly, leading Democratic candidate for 2026 governor, shares views on abortion,” CBS News Miami, 2026.
- “Florida gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2026,” Ballotpedia, 2026.
- “General Election Statewide TV Debates Announced in Florida’s 2026 Races,” James Madison Institute, July 2026.
