- 6/6/2025
Former Congressman David Jolly, who served in Congress as a Republican, is now running for governor of Florida as a Democrat. Jolly joined Brittany Lewis on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss his campaign.
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00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now
00:07is Congressman David Jolly. Congressman, thank you so much for joining me.
00:11Hey, great to be with you. Thank you, Brittany.
00:14It is great to have you. And I want to extend a congrats to you because you just announced
00:18that you are officially running for governor of Florida, this time as a Democrat. I do want to
00:23talk about that political metamorphosis to start off the conversation because you were a Republican
00:28congressman. Then you went to independent. Now you're a Democrat. Talk to us about your journey
00:33with political identity. Yeah, I appreciate that. I was a Republican member of Congress about 10 years
00:40ago. I had been a Bush 41 Republican, if you'll call it that. As a Republican, I supported marriage
00:46equality, climate science, gun control. You know, I joke Republicans didn't want me, but Democrats
00:51didn't need me. And I spent about six years as an independent. I think in the Trump years,
00:56much of the independent space has been part of the Democratic coalition. That was language I used.
01:02But I am a registered Florida Democrat. I'm running for governor of the state of Florida as a Democrat.
01:07And so for me, look, maybe I was always a moderate Republican. Maybe I'll be a moderate Democrat. But
01:13you know, on some issues, I'm still for lower corporate taxes, but I'm for more gun control. So
01:18where is that on the spectrum? I don't really care if we're talking about big solutions to big problems.
01:23And here's the other important thing that I've discovered on this journey.
01:28Voters appreciate people who are honest about growing and changing their mind. Most voters have
01:33as well. If you think about your own politics, you know, you probably are somewhere different than you
01:38were five years ago, 10 years ago. And so I'm honest about that. I think what's wrong in politics is
01:43some politicians won't change their mind, excuse me, change their mind when they're presented with
01:49more information or they least won't acknowledge that they have. My journey is part of the strength
01:56of this campaign. And to that point, I mean, most Americans do find themselves somewhere in the
02:02middle, right? They're not too far left. They're not too far right. They're more moderate. That's
02:07how they would describe their politics. I am curious, though, why now as a Democrat? Because
02:13right now, Democrats are facing a popularity problem. They're facing historically low approval
02:19ratings. The party seems to be unsure ever since the 2024 election of where to go next.
02:25And it seems like on a national level, the American people did lose trust with the party
02:29after there are reports that the party was not fully transparent with President Biden's mental acuity
02:35leading up to the 2024 election. So why is the time now that you're joining the party?
02:40Yeah, so very importantly, I would say one of the ways back for Democrats nationally are through
02:47state governorship races, whether it's in Florida, Michigan, California, Texas, wherever it might be.
02:52And here's why. Look, I am proud to be a Democrat. I see three fundamental values in the Democratic
02:58Coalition. First, we want an economy that works for all people, everyone, fair capitalism. Second,
03:04we want a government that actually serves its people, right, that efficiently serves its veterans,
03:09its seniors that invest in public education. Doesn't have to be a big government, but we need
03:13government. It should be efficient and lean. And then third, I want to be a part of a coalition
03:19that actually accepts, lifts up and celebrates everybody, regardless to the color of your skin,
03:24where you were born, who you love, who you worship. I'm not sure those values are evident to
03:28our family in Florida right now from Republican politicians. But then it comes to how do you apply
03:34those values? And this is one of the reasons I think that Florida provides an opportunity to win
03:39in 2026. I do think we're in the midst of a national change election cycle nationally.
03:45But I also think in the state of Florida, we have an affordability crisis that doesn't know party
03:50registration. We have a property insurance market that has collapsed. The private property,
03:57private homeowners insurance market has collapsed in Florida. We have a property tax crisis as well,
04:03just like we saw 25 years ago. It led to a momentous change in Florida. We are in that
04:08environment. And so as I make the case to Florida voters, that this race isn't about an affordability
04:14crisis, regardless of the community you live in, regardless of your income, regardless of your
04:19voter registration. And how did we get here? It is because of 20 or 30 years of Republican control.
04:25Look, I think we have an opportunity to meet voters exactly where they are. Now notice everything I
04:30spoke about does not mention Donald Trump. It does not mention Donald Trump. This race is not about
04:35Donald Trump. It's about an affordability crisis in Florida. And if Republican politicians want to
04:40make it about Donald Trump, they're trying to divide us and they're going to lose. If we can stay focused
04:45on the affordability crisis in Florida, meet voters where they're at, in the midst of a national change
04:51election environment in 2026, I think we will win this race.
04:54Let's talk about your campaign a little bit, because realistically, Florida was once a purple
05:00state. Now it's a reliably red state. The state hasn't seen a Democrat governor since the 90s. And
05:06DeSantis easily won against Republican turned Democrat, former Governor Charlie Crist in 2022 by
05:1319 points. And that was the largest margin in this race by 40 years. So A, how big of an uphill climb do
05:19you think this is for you? And B, where exactly are you meeting those voters? Because not only will
05:24you have to get Democrats to come out for you, you're going to have to get independents to come
05:28out for you and Republicans to come out for you as well.
05:32That's right. It is. It is a big climb. Now, I would point out that two years later,
05:36this last election, that Delta had dropped to 14 points in Donald Trump and Rick Scott's race.
05:41And in our congressional special elections just this spring, Democrats overperformed by 16 points.
05:47So if we do the math, we're in very good shape. But you do hit on something very important.
05:52There are not enough Democratic voters in the state of Florida to elect a Democrat by themselves.
05:57We have to be a party that builds coalition with independents and with Republicans. And maybe that
06:02means going into places we haven't gone before. Personally, I was raised a preacher's kid. I
06:08consider my faith very important to me, not to proselytize it or bring it into the public square,
06:13but we have to speak to the faith community about why our values, about lifting everyone up,
06:19about an economy for all people better resonate with the teachings of faith, whatever faith that
06:23is, the basics of it. I think we have to talk to gun owners and say, gun owners aren't the problem,
06:29but our gun laws are. And if we strengthen our gun laws, we're going to protect your kids just like
06:35ours. We've gone to the ag community and say, your labor markets are tight because of Governor
06:39DeSantis' immigration policy. But we also, we have to be Democrats willing to go into South Florida
06:45and say, communism is wrong. Socialism is wrong. We support capitalism, but we're the party that
06:50will make capitalism fair and work for you. We have to be able to denounce the dictators that
06:55people have fled from while lifting up the people. Maybe that looks and feels a little differently
07:00than a Democrat. But if we do that, we will build coalition with people, again, singularly focused
07:06on state issues. We have an affordability crisis that we have to solve. I think we need a property
07:13insurance catastrophic fund in the state of Florida. I think we need full property tax reform,
07:17not just nibble at the edges with a cut, rebalance how we keep seniors in their homes while we provide
07:22relief to let first-time homebuyers move in. We need to invest in public education. Those are kind
07:28of big city mayor type issues. And if we are a governor that's able to talk about those issues,
07:33we will bring along plenty of independents and Democrats to win. Only 40% of Florida are
07:42registered Republicans. And we will get 10 to 12% of Republicans. I'm confident of that.
07:48There are plenty of voters to be a part of this coalition.
07:51I find it interesting that you said earlier in this conversation, and when you're talking about
07:55your campaign a bit there, you didn't mention President Trump not once. And Congressman Byron
08:01Donald, who is the governor in this race, or the candidate in this race, running for governor,
08:06who was endorsed by Donald Trump, he said Florida is Trump country. And Florida, for the past couple
08:12of years, really, in some instances, has been ground zero for hard right policies, as well as
08:17culture war issues that were helmed by Governor DeSantis. Do you think there's an appetite in your
08:23state to move away from that? This race isn't about Donald Trump. If we're talking about Donald
08:29Trump, we're going to lose. And I think when it comes to Byron Donald's, we should ask, why are you
08:34not for cutting property insurance by 50 or 60% by having a cap fund? Why are you not for investing
08:40in and saving public education in the state of Florida? Why are you for culture wars that try to
08:45marginalize people based on the color of their skin, who they love or who they worship? I think there's a
08:50lot that Byron Donald's would have to defend in a conversation with voters. Note that he turned
08:55around and attacked me for trying to talk about those issues and try to bring Nancy Pelosi, Chuck
09:00Schumer, Donald Trump into this race. What it tells me is Byron Donald's is not a serious candidate
09:05for governor in the state of Florida, because a gubernatorial candidate is asking for stewardship of
09:11the state to solve our problems on behalf of a coalition. If Byron Donald's wants to make this race
09:18about Donald Trump, God bless you. You go do that. You talk to voters about that and see how that
09:23turns out. I'm talking about an affordability crisis every single day during this campaign.
09:29Talk to us a little more about that affordability crisis, because I live in New York, and especially
09:34at the beginning of the pandemic, I noticed that a lot of people were leaving New York and going to
09:39Florida because they thought, hey, it's a lot cheaper, the weather's better, and it's cheaper to live
09:43here, and it's nicer outside. But you're saying there's a real affordability crisis right now in
09:50your state. How so, and what are you going to do to fix it? Look, the trend line of people exiting the
09:56state is now continuing to go up because, look, there are some market conditions a governor can't
10:01control. I've been out of politics long enough to be honest, right, to tell the truth. There are
10:06market conditions we can't control. The Fed controls interest rates. We can't control that.
10:10There is the issue of supply and demand, too much growth. Now, we haven't managed growth in the
10:16state of Florida, but we've also allowed the property insurance market and the property tax
10:20system in Florida to become the number one driver of that, take that collectively, the number one
10:26driver of lack of affordability. You see people leaving because of those issues. Access to housing
10:32is the number one driver of the affordability crisis, but we also have to look at, under Republicans,
10:37we've abandoned public education, put people in a voucher system that used to cover tuition,
10:42but now we're asking families to pay on top of the vouchers. We're building roadways that are told
10:47not free to try to get to work. These are Republican policies that have led us to this moment.
10:54And that is where I say, if Byron Donalds wants to talk about Donald Trump, God bless you.
10:59God bless you. You do that. While I talk to Florida voters about the affordability crisis,
11:04I'm comfortable having that conversation with voters.
11:08And I'm sure you saw this, but after you announced, he posted this about you on X,
11:14previously known as Twitter. David Jolly is an anti-Trump radical leftist who wants to raise
11:19your taxes, allow illegals to pour across our border, take school choice away from families,
11:24ban guns, and bring woke ideology to Florida. He's completely out of touch with Florida's voters
11:30and our values. What do you make of that? What's your response to that?
11:34I don't think Byron Donalds believes what Byron Donalds just said. I don't find him to be a serious
11:39candidate. It's why he won't win. And it's why Ron DeSantis and state Republicans are looking for
11:44any other candidate except for Byron Donalds. Look, what Byron Donalds did not mention there
11:50is that I want to cut people's property insurance by 50 or 60%. He didn't offer a plan to do that.
11:56I want to provide property tax reform and relief to first-time home buyers, not just nibbling around
12:02the edges at the actual tax rate. I actually think we should invest in public education
12:07because Republicans have abandoned it in Florida and we have excellence in education only out of
12:12the sheer will of our teachers and our administrators and their love for students. But here's another
12:17thing I'd like to talk about. We need to shame Republicans who continue to conflate immigration
12:24and crime in states like Florida. Our leaders, our Republican leaders, I don't believe this
12:30reflects the full heart of the Republican Party, but they are attacking communities, immigrant
12:35communities, and then looking for crime. Democrats need to be the party that says we'll fight crime,
12:40but we're not going to fight communities because what we are seeing reflects the wrong value set
12:44in the state of Florida. And so I say whether you were born here, whether you immigrated here,
12:50whether you're a politician who breaks the law or steals money from the Medicaid program,
12:54we're going to be the party that investigates you and holds you accountable. Nothing Byron
12:58Donald said in response to our candidacy shows that he is prepared to govern. What it shows is that
13:04he's scared and he's not confident in having this conversation with voters. I don't care about the dirty
13:09politics that get played in a cycle. That will happen this race. But I'm a candidate on behalf of a
13:15coalition, a coalition of people demanding change with solutions to the affordability crisis.
13:21We've yet to hear a single solution from Byron Donalds because he doesn't have one.
13:25I'm curious then what you make of Governor Ron DeSantis' leadership because, as I said earlier,
13:32he sailed through re-election, was widely popular in your state. He also was at one point seen as the
13:39future of the Republican Party. I mean, what do you make of his leadership and his legacy
13:43as you're running for his seat right now? I think Ron DeSantis is leaving the state in a hard spot.
13:51One, there's going to be a fiscal cliff with our state budget coming up. He did not manage growth
13:55sufficiently. So now Florida has become a home for the rich and the reckless. And he launched
13:59culture wars that have divided us and marginalized us. And I think that is wrong. Now, I would also say
14:04we can't be reflexive as Democrats and say, just because a Republican did something, it's wrong.
14:09Our Republican Senate president right now wants to invest $200 million in a rural renaissance,
14:16last mile corridors of health care, transportation, education, and some of our most disadvantaged
14:20counties. Democrats should celebrate that and say, let's make it $300 million. But I'm afraid what Ron
14:26DeSantis has left us is an economic crisis, an affordability crisis where, you know, Florida is
14:32just a home for the rich and the reckless. I want to make it a home for all of us. And by the way, as we do
14:37that, everyone is going to be lifted up and celebrated. We are going to be a community of
14:42people who respect each other and bring dignity back to each other. That's not the legacy of Ron
14:47DeSantis. It's time for a change.
14:49I know that you literally just jumped into this race, but what's next for you in this campaign?
14:56Yeah, we are going everywhere in every community across the state of Florida. This is the home of MAGA.
15:02There will be financial resources for Republicans that we will never compete with. They will outspend
15:08us two to one. We will have sufficient money to run our race, to reach voters, to turn them out. I
15:13have no question about that because when a Democrat is about to win the governorship in Florida in 2026,
15:20the world will know that we're about to change national politics. The money will be there on our
15:23side. They will have more on theirs. But we have to be invested in communities personally as a coalition
15:29where we haven't been before. Building coalition, community, changing hearts and minds, not just engaging in
15:35some of this poisonous garbage rhetoric we're going to hear from Republicans. If we build trust and we build
15:41community with people from all walks of life, in every demographic, in every region of the state, with a singular
15:46focus of solving the affordability crisis, we will have a coalition that allows us to win next November.
15:53Republicans are going to play checkers and we're going to play chess and we're going to win.
15:56Well, Congressman, thank you so much for joining me. You are welcome back anytime and best of luck.
16:02Thank you. Good to be with you. Thank you very much.
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