ORLANDO, Fla. – Former U.S. Representative David Jolly has officially announced his candidacy for governor of Florida in 2026.
In a one-on-one interview, the newly registered Democrat told News 6’s Justin Warmoth his campaign would focus on practical issues that matter most to Florida families, including tackling the state’s affordability crisis, reducing soaring property insurance premiums, improving access to quality schools, and enhancing community safety.
Jolly, 52, was a Republican when he represented Florida’s 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017. After his time in the House of Representatives, he served as a political analyst on MSNBC. He became a registered Democrat in April of this year.
Jolly is the first major Democrat to officially declare a run for governor. Several others are reportedly considering.
Here’s a full transcript of Warmoth’s conversation with Jolly, which has been edited for grammar and clarity.
WARMOTH: What went into this decision?
JOLLY: I think in many ways, my wife and I, we have two young children, six and four. This is a lived experience for us in the state of Florida, just like it is for millions of Floridians. We are going through an affordability crisis in this state that we have not seen in a generation between access to housing and car insurance. Frankly, we’re building roads, but requiring them to be tolled, and utility costs are going up. I don’t see any relief in sight. And look, I can also say I don’t like the direction with the culture wars. That’s not our family’s orientation. So, I don’t like that. But there’s almost a singular crisis right now, and it’s the affordability crisis. I think Republicans in Tallahassee have contributed to it and refused to do anything about it. I want to be part of a coalition of change in Florida that actually does something about it. And I think we can.
WARMOTH: What dynamic will you bring to bridge the gap and work across the aisle?
JOLLY: You know, what I love about being a Democrat is we get to accept math and data and science. There are not enough Democratic voters in the state of Florida to elect a Democratic governor. We have to have a coalition. Now, I think that coalition should be led by the Democratic Party. I’ve been a part of the coalition maybe for a decade. I look at the Democratic Party with three fundamental values. First, an economy that’s going to work for everybody, not just for the rich and the reckless, but for everybody. I also think Democrats defend a government that actually needs to serve its people. From providing for our veterans, our seniors to providing for a quality public education environment and excellence in public education. And the third democratic value I see is a coalition that lifts everyone up, regardless of where you were born, how you got here, the color of your skin, who you love, who you worship. We restore dignity and respect and embrace people. Those are democratic values. And I think leading with those values, we then build a coalition and policies flow from there. And so, are we fighting to reduce property insurance through, I propose, a state catastrophic fund? Remove hurricane coverage from the private market. You could reduce property insurance by 60%. Are we fighting to reduce auto insurance utilities by bringing in clean, renewable energies? Are we fighting for public roadways that aren’t always tolled? Those are democratic values attacking the affordability crisis.
WARMOTH: Florida hasn’t had a Democratic governor in the 21st century. It’s been a long time. What gives you optimism that David Jolly could flip the trend?
JOLLY: I would say it’s not just David Jolly. It’s millions of Floridians who understand it’s time for a change. And my job is to convince this coalition to vote maybe differently than you have reflexively done in the past. I’m encouraged for a couple reasons. First, governor’s races are different. This is an open seat. Governorship is about safe communities, good schools, good roads. This is not a federal race, right? This race is not about Donald Trump. We won’t be talking about Donald Trump. In some ways, it’s not about Governor DeSantis. It is an open seat. It’s about the direction he’s left the state. To me, it’s almost like a big city mayor’s race. So, immediately, this becomes a less partisan environment than it should be. I think Republican candidates will make it partisan because if they divide us, they win. My job is to unify us. I’m a fifth-generation Floridian. It doesn’t make me any different than someone who moved here yesterday. But I think all of us want to see a Florida as it can be. Look, we have seen enormous economic growth, but it has benefited arguably the wealthiest. Florida has become a home for the rich and the reckless — not for everyone. I want it to be a home for everyone. We also have taken this road of culture wars under Governor DeSantis that I think are wrong. I think the culture wars are wrong. I think there are enough people in that coalition that want to put a stop to Republican culture wars and return dignity to everybody in every community. That’s a coalition argument. It’s led by the Democratic Party and democratic values. But we need to bring in independents. We need to be Democrats willing to go in the faith communities, talk about our values. We need to go into agricultural communities and say, ‘Your labor markets are tight because of the governor’s immigration program.’ We need to be able to go to gun owners and say, ‘You’re not the problem, our laws are. And if we change, our laws will protect your kids and ours.’ We also have to be Democrats to go into South Florida and forcibly condemn socialism and communism and say it’s wrong. Dictators are wrong. Fight the dictators but lift up the people. Democrats haven’t done that in the past. So, I think if we can deliver a stronger message on Democratic values while bringing in independents and soft Republicans, we have enough votes in the state to create change.
WARMOTH: There are 1.2 million more registered Republicans in the state of Florida than Democrats. President Trump won by 13 points last year. DeSantis won by 20% over Charlie Crist in the midterms. You hear from Floridians and they’re saying this is a ruby red state. You don’t see it that way?
JOLLY: Those are intimidating numbers. A couple things are happening. One, in terms of our legislature, Florida is a gerrymandered state. Our legislature does not recognize the diversity of our state. But I do think we have to recognize we may be in the middle of a generational change election cycle. In the two congressional special elections, we saw Democrats overperform by 15 or 16 points. We’re seeing that across the country. I have been in maybe 12 town halls around the state, deep red pockets. I went to Zephyrhills. A man stood up and said, ‘The last Democrat in this here was Lawton Chiles.’ I stood on the steps of the Collier County Courthouse in Naples. A man stood up and said, ‘Thank you for remembering that in a statewide race, a Democrat in Collier County is the same as a Democrat in Broward. People are coming out because they’re demanding change. Now, we need that moment to meet us halfway. We need this to remain a change election. But I’ll point to two states where this happened. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, won in deep-red Kentucky. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, winning deep-red Montana. The governor’s races are different. Voters behave a lot more rationally about the governance of their state. If we can focus on state issues in Tallahassee, not make this race about Donald Trump, even though Republicans want it to be, we will win.
WARMOTH: He will be a central theme. We know that. He’s a Florida resident as well and spends a lot of time here.
JOLLY: Well, look, I’m fighting to reduce Donald Trump’s property insurance. Maybe he’ll look at that and say, ‘Hey, I think a catastrophic fund helps Mar-A-Lago.’ Republicans won’t do it for him.
WARMOTH: They have been touting that things are getting better on the insurance front. Do you see it getting any better, or is there just too much lobbyist noise to really get it under control?
JOLLY: I would ask the voters, do you believe Republicans when they say that? Perhaps we’ve seen a year or two of stabilizing insurance, but let’s look at what’s really happening. They’re bringing in low-cost, undercapitalized insurance carriers. None of the major insurance carriers will ever come back to Florida if we don’t have a catastrophic fund. Just look at who’s coming in. They’re living here for 3 or 4 years. A storm hits, they’re undercapitalized, and they’re out. And that’s even with Tallahassee allowing them to ship their profits out of state but keep their losses here. That’s a scandal. That’s an absolute scandal. So, ask yourself: ‘Where were property insurance rates 10 years ago? Five years ago?’ Now ask yourself: ‘What is the greatest hindrance to homeownership?’ Property insurance and property taxes. Those costs are real. A state catastrophic fund could cut private insurance for homeowners by up to 60%. I’ve seen it. It’s called an X-wind policy. You remove natural disasters. Now, what I’m proposing is we move natural disasters into a state catastrophic fund. When I was in Congress, I proposed this nationally — a national cat fund to aggregate wildfires out West, tornadoes in the Midwest, ice in the Northeast and hurricanes in the Southeast. At some point, we have to recognize the private insurance market in states that are prone to natural disasters has collapsed. It’s failed. Republicans are putting Band-Aids on it. We need bold reform.
WARMOTH: There are so many people who feel like they’ve been priced out of owning a home. They’re trying to make ends meet by working several jobs just to make rent. We’re one of the worst states when it comes to having access to affordable housing. What are some realistic policies that will help everyday Floridians make ends meet?
JOLLY: So, the property insurance and property tax environment impacts renters. They don’t really see it, but it’s a pass-through cost. So, we do start by doing that. But we also have to recognize we need to increase affordable housing for the lowest socioeconomic brackets. Perhaps more grants from the state to municipalities to do that, but also workforce housing. We use TDC (Tourist Development Council) dollars right now to build enormous convention centers. We’re sitting in Orlando, but we don’t use it to build workforce housing for the people who have to work in those convention centers. So, now employees have to live an hour outside of Orlando. They have to sit in gridlock traffic, because if you want to go fast, you have to pay a toll that they perhaps can’t afford. We have created a Florida for the rich and the reckless instead of a Florida for all budgets or values. Budgets are a reflection of our values when it comes to growth management. We’ve given away too much to developers. In Pasco County, we’re clearing lands, building homes, but they’re running out of water and the schools are overcrowded. Put people in charge of growth management that actually understand growth management and stewardship of the environment and proper resources. I am not a candidate who would tell you that everything can be fixed on day one, and some problems can’t be fixed, right? The macroeconomic conditions and interest rates set by the Fed — we’re not going to change those. But there are things we can do in Florida that Republicans aren’t doing.
WARMOTH: I know you’re not running against Governor DeSantis, but there will be some comparisons to Charlie Crist. Of course, a former Republican turned Democrat. You know this. Is that a problem? And how do you distance yourself or separate yourself from Charlie Crist?
JOLLY: I love this conversation because it’s the strength of our campaign. All due respect to Charlie Crist, but his political journey took about 10 months and mine took 10 years. His was transactional to run for office. That wasn’t my journey. More importantly, Charlie Crist would always tell voters, ‘I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The party left me.’ David Jolly left the Republican Party. I’ve grown. I’ve changed. Look, I was a Bush 41 Republican. Even in Congress, I supported, as a Republican, marriage equality, climate change, gun control and campaign finance reform. When Republicans moved to investigate Planned Parenthood, I was the only Republican to vote against it. When they moved to strip funding from Planned Parenthood, I offered a compromise to move that money to community health centers, so there wasn’t a break in care. Not good enough for the reproductive freedom movement, I understand that, but it showed kind of my journey. But more importantly, as I continued to grow and serve a community that President Obama had won twice, a diverse community, I arrived in a different place. I support the full codification of the Roe vs Casey framework and for significant gun safety, gun violence prevention laws. I’m still for lower corporate taxes because I think it contributes to economic growth. I’m still for notionally less government. I think we need to get government out of our classrooms and out of our doctor’s offices. And so that’s been a journey where I’ve investigated, I’ve grown, I’ve changed my mind, and so I love to have that conversation because one, it is my truth that I get to talk about with voters. But here’s the thing: every voter has changed their mind. If you just reflect on the last 10 years of our politics since the emergence of Donald Trump, let’s be honest: everyone’s politics have changed. Some have hardened. Some have changed on issues. Some have changed parties. I embrace that because that’s where our voters in the state are. So, look, I think I can call them, you know, campaign hacks out of Tallahassee. They’ll try to hit me with that. Please do, because I want to have that conversation with voters. It is the strength of our campaign.
WARMOTH: How big of an issue is the school voucher program and the impact it’s having on public schools?
JOLLY: Republicans have abandoned public education in the state of Florida. They’re starving it. Excellence in our public schools exists because of the sheer commitment and willpower of our teachers and our administrators. We need to celebrate public education, invest more in it, have more schools in more communities, with more teachers who are paid more. Not a 3% raise, a 30% raise. That’s a reflection of our values. Now, I will tell you, as a Democrat, I’m not here to say cancel the voucher program. Choices are here, but let’s make it a real choice, not a false choice. Let’s return to testing for the voucher program, so it’s only for families in need. But most importantly, let’s put requirements on private schools. If you accept a voucher for a student, that should be enough. You don’t get to turn around and charge them more money and get paid coming and going. And most importantly, you have to provide the same services and standards that public schools do. If a first grader can’t read, you don’t get to kick them out. You have to provide an IEP, just like our public school does. I’m afraid if we follow the Republican direction on education, they will be OK with a permanent underclass of public education and low socioeconomic communities while they’re moving state money into well-funded private schools that don’t have to meet the same standards. I think that’s wrong. We have to look at public and private schools as education partners for our families, and we have to say everyone abides by the same rules.
WARMOTH: What are your thoughts on the ICE raids that are seemingly getting more prevalent?
JOLLY: Here’s the thing on immigration that I hope we can do over the next 16 months: Republicans have wrongly gotten away with conflating immigration and crime. It’s wrong. We can be a party in a state that welcomes immigrants, that celebrates their contributions to our economy and to our culture, but we can also be a state and a Democratic Party that’s tough on crime. Whether you were born here or you immigrated here. If you’re a politician who stole money from the Medicaid program, if you break the law, we’re going to investigate you and we’re going to be tough on crime as Democrats. But the key here is we’re going to fight crime in our communities. Republicans lead with fighting communities. And when they fight those communities, if they find crime, they parade it out as theater. Not only is it wrong in terms of criminal justice and law enforcement, it’s a moral wrong. It’s gross. It’s a reflection of values in the state of Florida that are shameful. We can be a state that is tough on crime but welcomes immigrants. Republicans can’t do both. We can.
While Jolly is the first major Democrat to announce a campaign, there are some other major candidates.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is the first Republican candidate to announce a gubernatorial campaign. He’s also the first major candidate to formally file with the Florida Division of Elections. He has the support of President Donald Trump.
Jason Pizzo, a former Democrat and state senator from South Florida, announced he is running for governor as a no-party-affiliate candidate.
Go to the Florida Division of Elections website to see who else has filed to run for governor in 2026 so far.