# David Jolly > [!note] Stub > This is a short entry that hasn't been fully written yet. **David Jolly** represented the Tampa Bay area in the U.S. House as a Republican from 2014 to 2017. He broke with his party publicly in 2018, spent several years as an independent, registered as a Democrat in 2025, and ran as the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida in 2026. He lost to Republican Rep. [[Byron Donalds]], whom the Associated Press projected as the winner on election night, November 3, 2026. Jolly won the Democratic primary with 61.0 percent and ran as a centrist assembling Democrats, disaffected Republicans and independents, with former Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham as his running mate. Every major forecaster rated the race Lean Republican: Republicans had controlled Florida's government since 1999, no Democrat had won a statewide race there since 2018, and none had won a four-year term as governor since Lawton Chiles in 1994. Donalds, endorsed early by [[Donald Trump]], raised roughly $111 million across his campaign and political committee. Jolly nonetheless ran closer than expected on a night when Florida was one of the few states to hold for Republicans. Richardson's letter of November 4 noted that his showing and that of [[Angie Nixon]], the party's Senate candidate, surprised Democrats enough that the national party had not invested heavily in either race — leaving open the question of what fuller funding might have done. [[Ron DeSantis]], term-limited and pointing to Florida's result as a counter-example to the national rout, used the contrast to position himself for 2028. ## Why it's on the map Jolly is one of the more prominent Republican-to-Democrat converts of the Trump era to seek major office, and the 2026 Florida governor's race was the test of whether that profile could move a state the party had written off. The answer was no, but by a smaller margin than the forecasts implied. ## Connections - [[FL-Gov-2026]] — the race - [[Byron Donalds]] — the winner - [[Angie Nixon]] — the party's Senate candidate the same year - [[2026 Midterm Elections]] · [[2026 Governor Races Hub]] ## Sources - [Ballotpedia: Florida gubernatorial election, 2026](https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_gubernatorial_election,_2026) - [WLRN: David Jolly wins Democratic nomination, will face Byron Donalds](https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2026-08-18/david-jolly-governors-race-florida) - [Associated Press: midterm election 2026 live coverage](https://apnews.com/live/midterm-election-2026#000001a1-a451-db3e-a7bd-fff3572e0000) - [Tampa Bay Times via Dayton Daily News: Donalds, Jolly win set up historic Florida governor race](https://www.daytondailynews.com/donalds-jolly-win-set-up-historic-florida-governor-race/article_351a421a-8113-5b67-807f-2ae02695ff8d.html)