Former Republican Congressman David Jolly on Thursday became the first prominent Democrat to enter the 2026 gubernatorial race, saying he can attract middle-ground voters who want leaders to address issues such as rising housing and property-insurance costs.
Jolly, 52, represented a Pinellas County district in Congress for nearly three years and more recently has been a cable-news political commentator. He hopes to become the first Democrat elected governor since Lawton Chiles won in 1994. Gov. Ron DeSantis cannot run again next year because of term limits.
Republicans control every statewide office in Florida, have supermajorities in the state House and Senate and continue expanding their voter-registration lead.
“If you’re a Republican, Democrat or independent, you’re facing an affordability crisis in the state of Florida that has you wondering if you can continue to live here, retire here, raise your kids here,” Jolly told the News Service of Florida. “Personally, I think Republican politicians in Tallahassee have contributed to this crisis, ignored it, won’t do anything about it, and I think there’s a coalition that’s demanding change.”
The Republican Party of Florida described Jolly’s announcement as “breaking News from Fantasyland.” It pointed to the GOP’s voter-registration lead and said Jolly had changed his views on issues such as health care and the Second Amendment.
“No matter the issue, David Jolly has been on all sides of it,” state Republican Chairman Evan Power said in a statement
Jolly entered a race that includes Congressman Byron Donalds, a Naples Republican who has drawn support from President Donald Trump. Speculation also continues to swirl around whether Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson also will run for the GOP nomination.
Also, state Sen. Jason Pizzo of Sunny Isles Beach has indicated he plans to run without party affiliation, and big-name attorney John Morgan has floated the idea of running as a third-party candidate. Pizzo served as Senate Democratic leader before leaving the party this spring.
Jolly said he expects overreach, instability and damaging policies by Trump will help lead to a political environment for candidates to prioritize state concerns. And he anticipates Republicans will attack him for his positions on issues such as climate science and gun control.
“What would be inauthentic and a lie is to suggest I’ve never changed. That’s a failing candidate,” Jolly said. “It is a strength of our candidacy that I admit to changing and that I engage in conversations about why.”
Jolly, a former Washington, D.C. lobbyist who also worked as general counsel for Republican Congressman Bill Young, won a special congressional election in March 2014 after Young’s death. Jolly was re-elected that fall to a full term.
Initially he was among several Republicans, including then-Congressman Ron DeSantis who flirted with running for the U.S. Senate when then-Sen. Marco Rubio embarked on a failed run for president in 2016. When Rubio decided to seek re-election to the Senate, Jolly ran again for Congress and was defeated by Democrat Charlie Crist, another former Republican.
Before officially leaving the GOP in 2018, Jolly teamed with Democrat Patrick Murphy, another former Florida congressman, on a tour pushing for political common ground.
Jolly was the second prominent Democrat to announce plans this week to run for statewide office, after former state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez of Miami filed to run for attorney general.
–Jim Turner, Mike Exline, News Service of Florida
