Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly wants to know why no other candidate for governor of Florida has condemned President Donald Trump for the video he posted on his Truth Social account depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Speaking during a town hall meeting at the Bethel Family Life Center in Tallahassee on Monday afternoon, Jolly said he doesn’t often speak about the other candidates running to succeed Ron DeSantis, because he’s focused on on his own vision for Florida.
“But if we are in a moment when we are asking ourselves, who are we as a people and who we will be as a state, yes, every other candidate in this governor’s race should have condemned racism this weekend and not fallen silent,” he said to applause from the dozens of people in attendance.
Jolly compared his shock to the general reaction to Trump’s comments on the Hollywood Access tapes that emerged shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
“The heartbreaking part in the days since, no other candidate asking to lead this state has condemned the president’s racism,” he said. “No other candidate hasn’t spoken out about this. Those who have, have covered for him. It is a disqualifying moment in this race.”
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Although several Republicans nationally have condemned Trump’s social media post (since deleted), none of the four Republican running for governor in Florida have criticized the president, nor has the only other Democrat in the race, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.
Trump has endorsed the leading candidate in the race (according to polls), U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who is Black. A staffer for the Donalds campaign told the Tampa Bay Times over the weekend, “Team Byron Donalds has called the White House and learned that a staffer had let POTUS down.”
Florida Lt. Gov. and GOP gubernatorial candidate Jay Collins said the controversy was being trumped up by the political left and the news media.
“President @RealDonaldTrump is running the country, not cropping videos, ” he said on X over the weekend. “He is not a racist. That label is the left’s go-to shock tactic and the media’s favorite narrative.”
“President Trump did nothing wrong,” investment CEO James Fishback told the Phoenix in an email on Monday. “David Jolly should stop whining about AI-generated videos and tell Floridians how he will make their life more affordable.”
The Phoenix reached out to Demings and former House Speaker Paul Renner for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
Jolly on DEIDuring the Q&A portion of Monday’s event, Jolly was asked by a Florida A&M University student about Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s advisory legal opinion that he issued on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday announcing that more than 80 state laws aimed at protecting minority employees and businesses were no longer valid.
Jolly responded that he disagreed with the concept that after the results of the 2024 elections, Democrats should back away from discussing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
“That’s the wrong takeaway from the last race,” he said. “We’ve got to talk about it more. We have to speak with conviction about why it’s important.”
He said DEI can bring more people with “shared experiences” into the conversation, and that when he created a small economic development council at the start of his campaign, the first two people he contacted to be a part of it were African-American county commissioners: Luman May from Escambia and Rene Flowers from Pinellas.
“I said, ‘Help me think about economic development policy in this state that doesn’t overlook any communities, that is not simply a ‘trickle-down’ economic policy where we presume it will benefit everybody. How do we do this and think proactively?” he said.
Jolly is competing against Demings in the Democratic primary, which takes place in August. The only major public survey taken among Florida Democrats about the race conducted last month showed Jolly with a slight lead, 23%-19%, with the majority (58%) undecided.
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