Special Coverage: Town Hall with David Jolly
May 26, 2025
By Philip Cardella
Coral Gables, Florida
"The next time you see me in Miami, I will be able to tell each and every one of you that I'm running for governor of the state of Florida," David Jolly told a packed house in Coral Gables Congregational's "Fellowship Hall." Over 350 registered for the event on Sunday night.
Of course, context is important and so is editing. The full context of Jolly's quote above was:
As I've been traveling the state, it is leading up to a moment where I will be making a very important decision together with my family and together with each of you in this room. And I am here because I believe that the next time you see me in Miami, I will be able to tell each and every one of you that I'm running for governor of the state of Florida, and this is a cycle and this is a race that we can win, that our coalition can bring change in the state of Florida.
The crowd met the statement with wild cheers, one woman even folding her hands, looking to the ceiling and quietly praying "please, please, please."
So, nothing is official yet. However, the camera crew of at least four people with perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in camera equipment traveling with the frequent MSNBC contributor suggested he is running.
"The first thing [I'm going to ask you for]," Jolly told the crowd, "It's not for five bucks, it's not for 20 bucks, it's not for money. If we get into this governor's race, the first thing I'm going to ask you is to believe, to believe, to believe that as a coalition we can lead change in the, in the state of Florida."
With a populist message of building a coalition that "simply meet(s) voters where they're at," Jolly called for a coalition led by the Democratic Party of Florida, but consists of no party affiliateds, and Republicans disillusioned by their own party.
Florida needs "a coalition that is led by the Florida Democratic Party. And it is why today I am here as a proud Florida Democrat," Jolly said affirming the change he officially made only a month ago in April.
The Chair of the Coral Gables Democratic Club, the host for the event that was attended by dozens of other Democratic groups in Miami-Dade County, agrees. "We need to move beyond outreach to only Dem voters," Bentonne Snay told club members after the event.
Moderating the event was local business icon and founder of Books and Books and the Miami Book Fair, Mitchell Kaplan.
Jolly fired up the crowd with his call for them to believe Democrats can lead change in the state of Florida. "We are in a time of great national crisis, a great national challenge," Jolly continued. "We are in a state where in the last eight years, we don't recognize the state that we believed we had. But if we thought that the fight was over, if we thought there was not a way to change the direction of the country and to change the direction of the state, you wouldn't be here."
More wild cheers.
Jolly, a former US House member– as a Republican, emphasized that he is proud to be a Democrat today.
"One of the reasons I love being a Democrat is we get to accept math," he said to laughter. "We get to accept science, gotta accept public health. We get to accept vaccines, but we get to accept math."
Pausing for effect, "The math is not there for Democrats without building a coalition that brings independents in."
The number one issue facing voters, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents is the housing affordability crisis, according to Jolly. Noting that Republicans have had over 20 years in control of Tallahassee to do something about the affordability crisis, Jolly believes the Democratic Coalition can solve the crisis.
Our coalition can bring change in the state of Florida. We can be a state that says we will fight the affordability crisis in the state of Florida where Republicans have failed to do so. We will become a state that addresses access to affordable housing for homeowners, for seniors, for renters, whether it's through property insurance reform, property tax relief, whether it's through additional legislation related to condo ownership and low interest or no interest loans to condo associations and condo owners who are now trapped in their, in their condos. Whether it's reducing the cost of entry through affordable and workforce housing, whether it is saying, look, we've spent enough money from tourist development taxes on convention centers. Let's use some of that money to build workforce housing for the people who work in those conventions.
Jolly also said that, given the size of Florida's economy, there's no reason the state's public education system shouldn't be the best in the world.
Attacking a perceived GOP strength, Jolly told the crowd, "We can be a party that assures voters we are tough on crime."
Expanding on that, "Whether you were born here, whether you immigrated here or whether you're a Tallahassee politician, if you break the law, we're gonna hold you accountable." Moving on to take a thinly veiled shot at the current Governor of Florida he added, "If you steal ten million dollars from the Medicaid Program you're on the hook for it," a reference to the allegations that the Governor's office fraudulently moved $10 million dollars from a Medicaid contractor to an effort to defeat a ballot initiative.
KATE PAYNE
"You know what else we can do? This is one of the more disgusting moments of modern political history. Republicans for too long have gotten away with conflating immigration and crime."
Jolly implored the crowd to advocate for the coalition, rather than any one candidate. "The candidate has one job and they are a peer of about a thousand other people in the campaign. Everybody's job is equally important, just as important as the candidate's. One other way you build a coalition is you find stakeholders in communities across the state that can speak the community language, can invest in the community and be an evangelist for the coalition, not for the candidate."
The message was repeated during the Question and Answer section of the town hall. He isn't the best person to reach out to Cuban Americans, Venezuelan Americans or young Americans, the people in those communities are.
Echoing what Coral Gables Democratic Club's president Snay has been saying recently Jolly expanded on the importance of how a coalition is built.
"You're worried about the cost of living in the state of Florida. You're worried about where your kids are going to get educated. You're worried about transportation and traffic. You're worried about a lack of public transportation. You're worried about insurance rates. Those conversations are true in all communities across the state, but the way those conversations get had are through trusted relationships within communities. So we have to invest as a coalition. I don't care if you're part of the party or not, if this is going to be a coalition that leads to change, we have to be invested in communities and community conversations and ultimately demonstrate trust.
In one of the more poignant examples Jolly provided during the evening event Jolly talked about meeting with The Council of Black Pastors in Orlando. "I said to them, if I get into this race, this will not be a race where we come to you six weeks and say, now we need your help. This will be a race where we sit for the next 14 months and we build community and trust and relationships."
Jolly said the Black pastors were surprised by his approach. "Their response was, no one has come here before they've even been a candidate. So let's start that journey of trust together. That's what we have to do."
As for the role Miami-Dade County, which for the first time in generations voted for the Republican Candidate in 2024, Jolly was clear– Miami-Dade County is crucial to taking back the Governor's Mansion.
"The majority of votes for this coalition to win are going to come in South Florida. And it is why I would not be surprised should we run that our headquarters will be right here in Miami Dade County."
Cheers from the audience.
Images with two minutes of audio from the Jolly Town Hall
"We need this room and we need leaders in Miami-Dade County to turn their community and turn them out. And that includes independents that we've gotta move by about eight points. That means Democrats, where we have to boost turnout by about three or four points. And that means the Cuban American and the Hispanic American community where we gotta pull back about six points from the last race."
"That only happens when we start right now building a coalition."
The significance of flipping a state that overwhelmingly supported the Republican Candidate for Governor in 2022 and for President in 2024 is hard to understate.
"If we win in Florida in 2026, MAGA is dead. The democratic movement across the country will now be in a resurgence and an incredible way. And now the road to the White House comes through the state of Florida."
Still, even winning the Governor's mansion in 2026, when the 2027 session starts, odds are the state house and senate will still be Republican controlled, creating strong headwinds for party change in the administration.
When asked about this by Kaplan Jolly was prepared and received one of the loudest and longest cheers of the night.
"If we elect a Democratic governor, the first thing that governor can do is fire all the Ron DeSantis appointees."
After a few minutes of answering questions directly from Kaplan–Kaplan joked that Jolly had answered most of the questions he had prepared in his opening speech–Jolly answered questions from the crowd for about 45 minutes.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins asked Jolly about the importance of, what is often called "home rule." Perhaps going straight to an example from the NPR podcast "Tallahassee Takeover" Jolly started his answer by talking about how Key West should be able to determine for itself whether or not it wants large cruise ships in the island's port.
Nancy Klingener
One member of the crowd told Jolly that "I just want to thank you so much. You've inspired me beyond belief. I, I'm, I have, I'm available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Jolly interrupted her to say, "You're hired, you're hired!" before listening to her question about Democratic approval of their own party standing at 27%.
"I don't buy it. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. I don't buy it." Jolly said of the poll showing 27% of Democrats support their own party, repeating "I don't buy it" four times for emphasis. "And here's what I don't. I think someone said 300 registrants for tonight (it was 350, but he can be forgiven as he wasn't in the room yet). Yesterday in the city of St. Petersburg on 36 hours notice, we had 260 people in Palm Coast. In Palm Coast. We had 600 people show up in Edra. We had 300 people show up in North Hillsborough. We had 250 people show up in Bradenton. We had 400 people show up. And in Sun City Center, 350 people showed up and they had to turn people away. This is not a community and a coalition that is concerned about the Democratic brand. This is a coalition that's excited about the Democratic brand."
As evidence of his conviction that the Democratic coalition is excited, after the event as the crowd streamed out of the steaming hot room, the mood was ecstatic. Voters talked about how they were inspired and filled with hope.
There were occasional concerns about the former "Bush 41 Republican" (his words) being the head of the state party, and how far he's really come on the ideological spectrum. While Jolly says he's moved from pro-Life to pro-choice and is now an ally of the Lesbian and Gay community, there were concerns on that front too.
He referred to the "LGBTQ Plus lifestyle" while saying that there is no place for a bias in our classrooms, including when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. It is worth quoting him at length for the context on that.
I want our kids, as I mentioned in a classroom where teachers are allowed to teach and they get exposed to diversity. Let's just be honest about the implicit bias of Republican politicians in Tallahassee. And I would put this on the governor's lap. In the governor's lap, we did not see that, don't say gay legislation because too many teachers had a photo of their same or their traditional, uh, marriage on their desk. This was not 'cause kids were getting exposed to family photos of teachers. This is because kids were getting exposed to the lgbtq plus lifestyle. And Republican politicians think that's wrong. That's a bias. That is a bias that needs to be called out as prejudicial and as a bias. We need to recognize that no bias is allowed.
To people in the LGBTQIA+ community, using the term "lifestyle" implies the myth that a person chooses to be gay or straight. Invoking it did not sit well with some members of the audience.
Jolly also brought up his Evangelical Christian faith on a few occasions and that if the President's Muslim Ban were to go into effect it would chill all expressions of faith. Still, in Coral Gables were a large percentage of residents are Jewish, indeed, in Miami-Dade County were a large percentage of residents are Jewish, including the moderator on stage with him, this wasn't as well received as Jolly might have hoped.
It may have served as a deflection from his previous controversial connections to, and attempts to delete reference to, Scientology. According to Wikipedia, "The 'worldwide spiritual headquarters' of the Church of Scientology is known as Flag Land Base, located in Clearwater, Florida. It is operated by Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., a Florida corporation," and within Jolly's district when he was a member of the House of Representatives.
Other issues that are presently hyper partisan, such as the environment, which he spent only a few sentences on and trans rights, which went unaddressed, got little attention.
Those concerns were outweighed by appreciation for his call to build a political coalition that goes beyond political party and gives power to the people.
Coral Gables Democrats counted about 300 in attendance.
This article was updated to correct the role other clubs played in the event and the number of clubs who indicated desire to participate.