David Jolly

Jolly is the son of a Baptist minister. He earned a B.A. from Emory University in 1994 and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law in 2001.⁠[1][2]

From 1994 to 2006 Jolly worked for longtime Florida Congressman Bill Young, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, serving as his general counsel and a senior aide. He later worked as a lobbyist.⁠[2][1][3]

Bill Young died in late 2013. In early 2014 Jolly defeated Democrat Alex Sink, 49% to 47%, in a special election for Florida’s 13th congressional district, took office on March 14, 2014, and won re-election that fall.⁠[4][1][2]

In office he brought a jar of mosquitoes to the House floor during the 2016 Zika outbreak to press for faster federal funding, introduced the STOP Act to bar members of Congress from personally soliciting campaign contributions, and described his party’s fundraising system on 60 Minutes as “a cultlike boiler room.”⁠[1]

In 2016 he called on Trump to withdraw from the presidential race. After redistricting made his district Democratic-leaning that year, he lost to Charlie Crist, and his term ended on January 3, 2017.⁠[1][2]

In 2018 Jolly announced on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher that he was leaving the Republican Party, saying: “I don’t think the future is between the two parties.” He was then registered as an independent for several years and worked as an MSNBCMS NOWMS NOW (My Source for News, Opinion and the World) is an American cable channel for political news and commentary. It was formerly MSNBC, launched in July 1996 as a joint venture of NBC and Microsoft, adopted its current name on November 15, 2025, as its business was spun off from Comcast, and since January 2026 has belonged to the independent public company Versant Media Group. It is known for its liberal-leaning commentary programs.Open the full entry commentator for about six years.⁠[4][1]

In 2022 he co-announced the Forward Party with Andrew YangAndrew YangAndrew Yang is an entrepreneur and author who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination advocating universal basic income. He co-founded the Forward Party and is the founder and CEO of Noble Mobile.Open the full entry and Christine Todd Whitman; the party aimed to recruit “solutions-oriented candidates to run for office, at all levels.”⁠[2]

Jolly registered as a Democrat in 2025. On June 5, 2025, he announced his campaign for governor of Florida as a Democrat, saying affordability, funding public schools and strengthening campaign finance and ethics laws would resonate with voters in 2026: “I think we should get politicians out of the classrooms, out of the doctor’s offices.”⁠[3][1]

Of his change of party he said: “I struggled to exercise those values in the Republican Party.”⁠[3]

In June 2026 Jolly announced former U.S. Representative Gwen Graham as his running mate for lieutenant governor at a press conference near the Old Capitol in Tallahassee; Graham, the daughter of the late former Florida Governor Bob Graham, had worked with Jolly in Congress on offshore drilling, gun reform and veterans’ rights.⁠[5]

On August 18, 2026, Jolly won the Democratic primary for governor of Florida, setting up a November contest against Republican Byron DonaldsByron DonaldsByron Donalds (born 1978) is an American Republican politician who has represented Florida’s 19th congressional district in the U.S. House since 2021, after serving in the Florida House of Representatives. In November 2026 he was elected governor of Florida, becoming the state’s first Black governor.Open the full entry.⁠[2][6]

In the November 3, 2026, gubernatorial election Jolly and his running mate Gwen Graham faced Byron Donalds and his running mate Bryan Avila. The Associated Press called the race for Donalds just after 9 p.m. that night, and Jolly then called Donalds to concede.⁠[7][8][2]

Personal website: https://davidjolly.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

X: Public account: https://x.com/davidjollyfl (opens in a new window).⁠[5]