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Another Republican in Blue Clothing? Why David Jolly Is the Wrong Choice for Florida Democrats [1]

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Date: 2025-07-16

Let’s be honest: Florida Democrats are tired of losing.

We’re tired of “safe” picks who excite no one. We’re tired of Republican retreads slapped with a blue sticker. And we’re especially tired of watching party insiders prop up candidates like David Jolly—whose record doesn’t reflect the values or fire of the people they’re supposed to represent.

Jolly’s rebrand from GOP Congressman to so-called Democratic savior is not just unconvincing—it’s dangerous. Because if Florida Dems want to break the cycle of electoral failure, they need to stop running Republicans in disguise.

A Voting Record That Speaks for Itself—And Not in a Good Way

Before he left the Republican Party in 2018, Jolly spent years voting with the very extremists we’re now fighting against. During his brief stint in Congress (2014–2017), he:

Voted to defund Planned Parenthood

Backed corporate tax cuts and oil industry interests

Opposed gun control measures

Was endorsed by the NRA

Supported efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act

Now he wants to run as a Democrat? It’s giving “Charlie Crist 2.0”—another former Republican who couldn’t excite the base, couldn’t win a general, and ultimately left Florida further behind.

We’ve Seen This Movie Before (and It Bombed)

In 2022, the Democratic Party ran Charlie Crist, a man who—like Jolly—switched parties after a GOP career, hoping to reinvent himself as a people-powered progressive. He lost to Ron DeSantis by nearly 20 points. It wasn’t even close.

The base didn’t show up. Why? Because no one believes a Republican can truly be trusted to defend abortion rights, fix our environmental crises, or protect marginalized communities—not when their records say otherwise.

Chris Christie tried the same national reinvention—pivoting from Trump-enabler to “sensible moderate”—and failed miserably. Republican voters didn’t buy it. Democrats didn’t want it. Independents saw right through it. Jolly is walking that same doomed path.

He’s Still Talking Like a Republican

Even now, Jolly won’t say he supports bold environmental policy, universal healthcare, or an end to the private insurance corruption driving Florida’s housing crisis. He’s running on a message of “stability” and “moderation,” hoping that appealing to “the center” will win over swing voters.

News flash: there is no center left.

Floridians are drowning—literally and politically. Red tide, skyrocketing rent, teachers quitting in droves, LGBTQ+ kids being erased, immigrants hunted and detained like animals. We don’t need moderation. We need justice. We need fighters.

We need someone who hasn’t spent a career helping the same systems that are killing us.

A Campaign for the Consultants, Not the People

Let’s also be honest about who actually benefits from a David Jolly candidacy: consultants, donors, and institutional party figures who fear grassroots power.

They’re terrified of progressives. They’re terrified of unions. They’re terrified of candidates who knock doors in the projects instead of wine cellars in Naples. They’d rather gamble on a milquetoast moderate with a TV-ready face than support someone who could ignite real movement-building in places like Opa-locka, Immokalee, or Belle Glade.

But we’ve seen the data. Every time they do that, we lose. Every. Single. Time.

The Stakes Are Too High

If you’re watching Florida politics closely, you know what’s at stake in 2026. With DeSantis gone, far-right Republicans like Byron Donalds or Casey DeSantis are circling, ready to take the baton and push this state even further into authoritarian extremism.

We don’t need a soft-spoken ex-Republican to “lower the temperature.”

We need a candidate who will burn down the systems of corporate greed, white supremacy, and fascist overreach that DeSantis built.

Jolly can’t do that. He’s part of the system that made it all possible.

The Base Deserves Better

The Florida Democratic base is young, diverse, working-class, and fed up. They want clean water, real climate action, bodily autonomy, housing they can afford, and a future worth voting for.

What they don’t want is another recycled Republican who voted against them for years, suddenly asking for their trust.

We’ve been down that road, and it only leads to defeat.

Let’s Stop Losing

Let’s say it clearly: David Jolly is not the future of the Florida Democratic Party. He’s the past—wearing a new jacket and hoping we won’t notice the holes.

Florida deserves bold leadership. Not performative bipartisanship. Not centrist excuses. And definitely not another failed Republican trying to cosplay as a savior while our communities burn.

Let’s stop playing not to lose—and finally start playing to win.

✊ Call to Action

✅ Demand candidate forums that include actual progressives

✅ Support grassroots Democrats with real community ties

✅ Push back on media fluff pieces selling us “Jolly-lite”

✅ Share this article, and talk to your neighbors

Let the consultants keep their recycled candidates. We’ve got something stronger—people power.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/16/2333685/-Another-Republican-in-Blue-Clothing-Why-David-Jolly-Is-the-Wrong-Choice-for-Florida-Democrats?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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