JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After months of speculation, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly of Florida has confirmed the rumors and announced he will run for governor in 2026.
Jolly told News4JAX that he believes he is the change Florida’s government needs.
Born and raised in the Sunshine State, Jolly, a native of Dunedin, said he never planned on getting into politics.
“I am still not sure I am a politician,” Jolly said. “I didn’t ever really seek out for office. I was a long-time staffer. I was an attorney on Capitol Hill. I was a political consultant. I ran campaigns for my predecessor, who passed away in office. I went around trying to find somebody to run to replace him.”
Jolly said no one wanted to run in the district that was split about 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, so he stepped up, running as a Republican in the 2014 special election and winning the seat.
Jolly lost the seat in 2016 to Charlie Crist, a former Republican Florida governor who had turned Democrat.
It’s a turn Jolly himself has now taken. The one-time Republican lawmaker left the party several years ago and is now running for governor of Florida as a Democrat. Though he scoffs at the comparisons to Crist.
“It’s part of my journey. That journey was over the course of over 15 years, and people will say, ‘Oh, and Charlie Crist did this.’ Respectfully for Charlie -- I don’t mean any criticism -- his journey took about 10 months, and it was very transactional, and he never admitted that he changed,” Jolly said. “I’ve changed. I changed my mind. I’ve grown.”
Despite now being a Democrat on paper, Jolly says his agenda is for all Floridians, and he’s been praised in some Florida communities for being the first Democrat to visit them in decades.
“We are getting 600 people in Palm Coast, in Naples, places where Republicans really perform well. But it’s more than just the numbers,” Jolly said. “(It’s) Democrats going into communities and having conversations they haven’t had before.”
Jolly has been out of political office for about 10 years, but he’s remained in the spotlight as a longtime MSNBC commentator.
Jolly said the timing of his return to the political arena is intentional. He said Florida is in the middle of a generational affordability crisis, and he thinks Gov. Ron DeSantis is not doing enough.
“Right now, in Florida, the affordability crisis is a lived experience; the crisis in education is a lived experience. I am a reformer at heart,” Jolly said. “I offered a lot of reforms in Congress.”
Jolly said he believes Florida’s government is off track.
“I disagree with the culture wars of the last six years. I think everybody should be lifted up and embraced regardless of if you were born here, immigrated here, who you love, who you worship,” Jolly said. “We need a Florida that embraces you and lifts you up and ensures that you have access to health care, education, a quality environment, a safe community. I just think we have lost our way.”
The only other major candidate who has declared a run for governor in 2026 is Republican Byron Donalds. Speculation continues over whether First Lady Casey DeSantis could run, but she has not made any public announcements.
News4JAX Political Analyst gave his thoughts on Jolly entering the race.
