David Jolly packed his bags and left Florida when Ron DeSantis needed defending the most.
Now he wants to be governor of the state he ran away from.
What Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump Jr just said about David Jolly’s record is going to follow him all the way to Election Day.
The Man Who Fled Florida Now Wants to Run It
When DeSantis kept Florida open during COVID – while blue-state governors were locking grandparents in nursing homes to die – David Jolly didn’t stand with his state.
He left.
He packed up, moved to Pennsylvania, and went on MSNBC to criticize Florida from a safe distance.
https://twitter.com/JeremyTate41/status/2115018104350577132?a=nXluEgN2o2VERnOH2O0&s=20
On Joy Reid’s show, he nodded along while Reid called Florida “mean” and attacked DeSantis for keeping the cruise industry alive.
He told an audience he wanted to stand on election night and say, on behalf of Florida: “We apologize.”
That’s not a candidate for governor of Florida.
That’s a man who spent years telling the entire country that Florida was the problem – and is now asking Floridians to hand him the keys to the mansion DeSantis built.
The Stakes Six Days Out
No Democrat has won Florida’s governorship since 1994.
That’s 32 years of Republicans running the freest, most affordable, most economically dynamic state in the country – while blue states exported crime, taxes, and misery.
Every time Democrats have tried to flip Florida with a party-switcher, they’ve gotten embarrassed.
Charlie Crist – another former Republican who crossed the aisle – lost to DeSantis by 19 points in 2022.
DeSantis drew the contrast plainly Wednesday in Brooksville: he has never heard Byron Donalds criticize Florida’s COVID policies or call for reversing universal school choice.
He has heard Jolly do both.
What’s Actually on the Ballot
CFO Blaise Ingoglia put it plainly: Florida is “the gold standard” and “where bad ideas go to die.”
Governor DeSantis made the case for Amendment 3, which would put more money back in homeowners’ pockets than any tax cut in a generation.
https://twitter.com/RedWavePress/status/2113701414971101618?a=jdmwQK80uqv4Y7iL6L8&s=20
Since 2019, Florida’s local governments have pulled in nearly twice what they collected before – approaching $62 billion annually – while families tried to keep up with inflation.
Amendment 3 cuts that load.
Jolly’s plan for a government takeover of property insurance adds to it.
Democrats want to “New York” Florida – import the same high-tax, high-regulation, high-crime agenda that drove millions of people out of New York and into Florida in the first place.
The people who fled those states didn’t move here for more of the same.
The Pattern Democrats Keep Ignoring
Here’s what the political class doesn’t want to admit: Florida hasn’t just trended Republican, it’s broken every Democrat comeback theory they’ve tested.
Every cycle, Democrats convince themselves this candidate is different – this one has crossover appeal, this one breaks the mold, this one can finally crack the code.
Crist was their best shot.
A Former Republican governor, a famous name, and millions in backing.
He still lost by 19.
Jolly was a Republican congressman.
Then he became an independent.
Then he became a Democrat.
Then he moved to Pennsylvania.
Then he moved back.
That’s not a political evolution.
That’s a man chasing whatever will get him elected next.
The Mason-Dixon poll has Donalds up seven – 48 to 41.
https://twitter.com/KickboxerEsq/status/2115451498301628566?a=YqHsLUVHUu6ut4O9VqY&s=20
Decision Desk HQ moved the race from “Toss Up” to “Lean Republican.”
Florida isn’t cracking.
It’s doing what it’s done for three decades.
The Closing Argument
Trump endorsed Byron Donalds.
DeSantis endorsed Byron Donalds.
Donald Trump Jr. is showing up Thursday in Hialeah – a Cuban American community that knows firsthand what socialist policies look like – because this race matters.
Donalds closes the tour Saturday having visited 50 stops across 38 counties.
Jolly spent the campaign telling audiences that Florida owes the world an apology.
One of these men loves this state.
Only one of them should govern it.
Sources:
- Frank Kopylov, “Donalds, DeSantis urge Hernando County voters to defend Florida Dream,” Florida’s Voice, October 28, 2026.
- Frank Kopylov, “Donald Trump Jr. to join Byron Donalds at Hialeah GOTV rally,” Florida’s Voice, October 28, 2026.
- Staff, “Donalds leads Jolly in 2026 Florida governor’s race, new poll finds,” NBC Miami/Mason-Dixon, October 2026.
- Matt Vespa, “Trump-Deranged David Jolly Is Hoping to Say This on Election Night,” Townhall, July 30, 2026.
- Staff, “Donalds: David Jolly ‘Will Bend the Knee to the Radical Left,'” Breitbart, August 20, 2026.
- Staff, “Byron Donalds vs. David Jolly: Latest Polls Show Two Very Different Results,” Newsweek, October 2026.
- Staff, “Ron DeSantis Endorses Byron Donalds for Governor,” Floridian Press, September 2026.
