2026 Governor’s Race
Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly joined Rick’s Blog Live the week after clinching his party’s nomination, and he didn’t hedge on his chances against Republican nominee Byron Donalds.
- “Florida voters tonight would elect a Democratic governor,” Jolly said, pointing to a recent 15-16 point swing toward Democrats in the Congressional District 1 special election on the Space Coast and a 19-point Democratic win in the Miami mayor’s race—the city’s first Democratic mayor in 30 years.
Jolly, a former Republican congressman turned independent turned Democrat, framed the moment in historic terms.
“I think we’re in a 1974, post-Watergate moment. Enough voters are saying, forget about party, we’re going in a new direction.”
Corruption and campaign cash
Asked directly about the corruption he keeps referencing on the trail, Jolly pointed to the Hope Florida controversy and what he calls the most corrupt campaign finance system in the country. He didn’t blame Donalds personally so much as the money behind him:
- Donalds has raised more than $100 million
- Jolly says the money comes from utilities, data center developers, for-profit schools, hedge funds buying up rental housing, and gambling tribes
- He estimates he could pull up to 20% of Republican voters frustrated with a party they see as “controlled” by donors and leadership
Housing, healthcare, education — “It shifts, but it’s always those three”
On affordability, Jolly said the conversation locally in Escambia County, where nearly half of residents are in poverty or living paycheck to paycheck, mirrors what he hears statewide. He didn’t dwell on property taxes; he zeroed in on homeowners insurance and adjustable-rate mortgages getting squeezed by interest rates.
His proposed fixes:
- A state catastrophic fund he says could cut homeowners insurance premiums by 60-70%
- Scaling up workforce and affordable housing using models he says already work
- Expanding direct-delivery primary healthcare through federally qualified health centers — he name-checked the one serving Brownsville, regardless of ability to pay
- A 10-year renaissance in public education, citing Florida teacher pay ranked last in the nation and 40th in per-pupil spending
On school choice, Jolly said he’s not looking to kill it, but he wants accountability: “A choice school should have to teach your kid to read.” He also floated a matriculation model where students could return to public schools for classes like trigonometry that a choice school doesn’t offer — with the funding following them back.
Teacher pay and the Alabama line
Jolly brought up something familiar to anyone who’s watched local school staffing: Pensacola-area teachers who commute across the state line to teach in Alabama because the pay and bonus structures are better. He argues Florida has been losing that competitive market for 25 years by chasing choice funding at the expense of traditional public schools.
The Data Center Fight
With Escambia County commissioners currently weighing their own data center restrictions, Jolly’s statewide position lines up directly with the local fight. He’s proposing a one-year moratorium on new data centers if elected.
“I will institute a moratorium on data centers, and if they want to sue me, they can sue me.”
Jolly cited environmental impact, water use, noise pollution, and destabilized property values as his top concerns, along with a broader question: whether the mega data center boom will even still be a growth industry five years from now. He also drew a sharp contrast with Donalds, saying his opponent has taken heavy contributions from data center interests and is signaling an open-door policy regardless of community opposition.
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