Byron Donalds, the Republican congressman running for Florida governor, is making a political problem out of his Democratic opponent’s past. Donalds is accusing David Jolly of flipping positions on abortion, immigration, and offshore drilling — and he is pointing to Jolly’s own words from 2016 to prove it.
Ten years after Jolly ran as a Republican against Democrat Charlie Crist for Congress, he is now a Democrat seeking the governor’s office and facing the same charge of allegedly changing positions for political gain. Back then, Jolly spoke about Crist this way: “You were pro-choice, then you were pro-life, then you were pro-choice. It was only after you switched parties that you switched your position. This was not a matter of conviction for you; it was for political convenience.” Now the accusation has shifted to him, with his own record being used against him by his opponent, Donalds.
The Positions That Changed
Jolly’s record shows the changes:
- Abortion: As a Republican, he believed “life begins at conception,” authored legislation to defund Planned Parenthood, and co-sponsored fetal-personhood legislation. He voted for a federal 20-week abortion ban. Now as a Democrat, he calls himself “pro-choice,” supports codifying the Roe v. Wade framework, and says he would veto legislation restricting abortion access as governor.
- Immigration: Jolly campaigned on securing the border, supported tighter refugee screening, and voted for the American SAFE Act. He now says the country should have “wide gates” for workers and asylum seekers, argues crossing the border without legal status shouldn’t be treated as a crime, and calls the Republican link between immigration and crime “gross,” “immoral,” and “wrong.”
- Healthcare: Donalds cites Jolly’s opposition to Obamacare when he served in Congress, noting that now Jolly wants to expand it in Florida.
- Offshore drilling: After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which affected roughly 178 miles of Florida coastline and cost the region $1.3 billion in visitor spending, Jolly’s lobbying firm Three Bridges Advisors represented Free Enterprise Nation, which supported H.R. 909, the Roadmap for America’s Energy Future. Jolly wrote a post on the group’s website stating Free Enterprise Nation was “advocating for” the legislation. Jolly said he “never lobbied for offshore drilling,” but PolitiFact rated that claim “Mostly False” after finding he acknowledged attending a meeting where the bill was discussed, which lobbying experts said counted as lobbying.
The Debate Question
Three proposed debates have been set for Donalds, who says he believes Jolly is dodging the stage. Jolly has already accepted two other debate invitations, but has now ruled out taking part in any debates during this cycle.
The polls indicate the contest is narrowing, with Donalds holding a slight advantage according to the RealClearPolitics average, which puts him up by about 4 points.
The Race at Stake
Jolly is trying to become the first Democrat to win a governor’s race in Florida since Lawton Chiles won reelection in 1994. He has focused on data centers and labeled Donalds as a candidate more interested in partisan culture-war battles than addressing Florida’s rising housing, insurance, and healthcare costs.
Donalds framed the contest bluntly: “What you find with David Jolly is somebody who’s done a complete 180 simply to run for office again and to gain relevance again and the people of Florida simply cannot trust David Jolly because we cannot afford David Jolly’s flip-flopping when it comes to the great state of Florida.”
The open question is whether Jolly will agree to appear on stage with Donalds, or if he will go on rejecting such an invitation.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs neither Byron Donalds nor David Jolly on the merits of their current fight over position-switching, and instead urges voters to judge each man’s record issue by issue against individual freedom, small business, and no concentrations of power. Both men are trading accusations about political convenience, and both are using each other’s own words to make their case.
This is a fight between two candidates, not a choice between two teams.
The paper’s north star includes individual freedom, small business, and no concentrations of power. Neither candidate’s record fully matches that standard across every issue. Jolly’s changes on abortion, immigration, and offshore drilling show real shifts, and Donalds is right to point them out. But Donalds’s own record on healthcare funding raises questions of its own, and the paper does not ignore them.
Source material: “Donalds rips opponent’s ‘complete 180’ as Dem’s own 2016 words come back to haunt him in tightening gov race,” Fox News.
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