David Jolly | |
|---|---|
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's13th district | |
| In office March 13, 2014 – January 3, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Bill Young |
| Succeeded by | Charlie Crist |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David Wilson Jolly (1972-10-31)October 31, 1972 (age 53) Dunedin, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (before 2018) Independent (2018–2022)[a] Forward (2022–2025) Democratic (2025–present) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Education | Emory University (BA) George Mason University (JD) |
| Website | House website (archived) |
David Wilson Jolly (born October 31, 1972) is an American attorney, politician, and former lobbyist who served as theU.S. representative forFlorida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017 as aRepublican. After leaving office, Jolly became a prominent Republican critic of PresidentDonald Trump and apolitical pundit.[1][2][3] In September 2018, Jolly left the Republican Party.[4]
In April 2025, Jollyswitched his party registration to run in the2026 Florida gubernatorial race as aDemocrat.[5]
Jolly was born inDunedin, Florida, the son of Judith and Lawson Jolly, a Baptist pastor.[6][7] He grew up inDade City, Florida. Although he was found not to be at fault, at age 16, he was driving an automobile that struck and killed a pedestrian.[8]
He received his B.A. degree fromEmory University in 1994 and hisJ.D. degree from theGeorge Mason University School of Law in 2001.[9]
Jolly worked for Republican U.S. RepresentativeBill Young full time from 1995 to 2006 in various positions, with a brief break for six months in 2001 when he worked at a Washington securities firm. In 2002, Jolly became Young's general counsel and held that position until he left in 2006.[10] He served as the personal attorney for Young's family as well.[11]
In 2007, Jolly joined Washington, D.C. firm Van Scoyoc Associates as alobbyist and in 2011, he left Van Scoyoc to open his own lobbying firm, Three Bridges Advisors. During his time as a lobbyist he made political donations to both Republicans (about $36,000) and Democrats (about $30,000).[10][12] Jolly had his name removed from theLobby Registry to run for the vacant House seat.[10] At the time, Jolly was working as vice president of the Clearwater-based investment company Boston Finance Group.[11]
According toPolitico, Jolly was known for hiscentrist stances in U.S. Congress,[13] where he served one partial and one full term as a Republican. During his Congressional tenure, Jolly opposed thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but later he stated on an interview with MSNBC that during unemployment he had a new appreciation for its use as a "safety net".[14][15] In 2016, Jolly said that he was "pro-life".[16]
Speaking about firearms policy, Jolly said: "I do believe the Second Amendment is a fundamental right, but I don't believe it's beyond the reach of regulation, and I believe it's appropriate to look at regulations that ultimately keep the guns out of the hands of criminals."[17]
Jolly supported theBalanced Budget Amendment[18] and said he would have voted to raise thedebt limit in early 2014.[19]
Jolly also supported sending special operations forces overseas, securing the border,[which?] increasing the vetting process for legal immigrants, and increasing surveillance of suspected domestic terrorists.[20] In February 2014, Jolly introduced the "Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Protection Act" bill.[21]
In 2015, Jolly pushed to extend the ban on oil drilling inthe gulf off Florida.[22] In January 2015, Jolly announced plans to introduce a bill that would extend the reforms of the federalflood insurance program.[23] In July 2015, Jolly introduced the "Veterans Health Care Freedom Act" bill.[24] Jolly encouraged the U.S. House to extend the Treasure Islandbeach renourishment project.[25]
Jolly introduced the bipartisan "Stop Act" in 2016 to prohibit federally elected officials from directly soliciting campaign funds or donations on the belief that post-Citizens United fundraising was taking an excessive amount of their time away from their elected duties.[26]
On July 21, 2014, Jolly announced his support for the legality of same-sex marriage, stating: "I believe in a form of limited government that protects personal liberty. To me, that means that the sanctity of one’s marriage should be defined by their faith and by their church, not by their state." He also said "As a matter of my Christian faith, I believe in traditional marriage."[27]
In April 2016, Jolly's United States Senate campaign spokesperson Sarah Bascom confirmed that the campaign had made edits to his Wikipedia page to remove information about Jolly that included references to theChurch of Scientology and to his lobbying activities, alleging that the posts presented a "public negative narrative" against him, and she accused an unnamed rival campaign of adding "propaganda" to the article.[28][29] Jolly called the removal "a careless staff mistake" and said that he stands by his record and wants the public to be fully informed.[30][31]
In 2016, Jolly was ranked as the 48th most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the114th United States Congress (and the fourth most bipartisan House Rep. from Florida) byThe Lugar Center and theMcCourt School of Public Policy.[32]
Since leaving his Congressional office, Jolly has participated regularly as a political commentator on cable news sources such asCNN andMSNBC; in this capacity he has been critical of President Donald Trump.[33] He considered running for lieutenant governor of Florida in2018 on a bipartisan ticket, with former Democratic congressmanPatrick Murphy as the candidate for governor.[34] They conducted a speaking tour around the state.[35] Jolly ultimately decided not to run for any public office in 2018.[36]
After being behind in the early tallies, Jolly won the 2014 election on March 11, with 48.4% of the vote. He was sworn into office on March 13.[37]
Jolly had won the Republican nomination on January 14, 2014, overMark Bircher andKathleen Peters, winning a plurality of 45% of the vote.[38] Jolly faced Democratic nomineeAlex Sink and a Libertarian candidate, Lucas Overby, in the special election. The race received national attention as possibly forecasting the mid-term elections that were coming in November of that year and became the most expensive Congressional race in history, with approximately $11M spent, $9M of it by outside groups.[39] During the campaign there was friction between theNational Republican Congressional Committee and Jolly; the RNC thought Jolly's campaign was inept and Jolly criticized the negative ads run by the RNC.[40] and voters were generally unhappy with the overwhelming number of attack ads on both sides.[39]
Jolly ran for reelection to a full term in November 2014. He was unopposed in the Republican primary and no Democrat ran against him in the general election. His only challenger was Lucas Overby, theLibertarian nominee who came in third in the special election one year prior. Jolly defeated Overby with 75% of the vote.[41]
On July 20, 2015, Jolly announced that he was giving up his seat to run for theUnited States Senate seat being vacated byMarco Rubio, who was not running for reelection due tohis bid for theU.S. presidency.[42] As of August 2015, it appeared that Jolly would face several opponents in the August 30, 2016 Republican primary election, including U.S. RepresentativeRon DeSantis and Lieutenant Governor of FloridaCarlos López-Cantera.[43] However, on June 17, 2016, after Rubio reversed his decision, Jolly withdrew from the Senate race to run for re-election to the House, citing "unfinished business".[44]
In his bid for a second full term, Jolly faced former Florida Governor and St. Petersburg residentCharlie Crist, a former Republican who had turned Democratic after a brief stint as an independent. He found himself in a district that had been made significantly more Democratic after a court threw out Florida's original congressional map. Notably, the new district absorbed a heavily Democratic portion of southern Pinellas County, including almost all of St. Petersburg;[45] some of the more Democratic portions of St. Petersburg had previously been in the Tampa-based 14th District.[citation needed]
Ultimately, Jolly lost to Crist by 51.9% to 48.1%.[46] Jolly's defeat ended a 62-year hold on this St. Petersburg-based district by the GOP.William Cramer had won the seat for the Republicans in 1954,[47] handing it to Young in 1970.[48]
In July 2018, Jolly became executive vice president and principal of Shumaker Advisors Florida, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shumaker, Loop, and Kendrick law firm, at theirTampa office. In making the announcement, the firm said he would be working on ballot initiatives and community issues, including the effort to build a new stadium for theTampa Bay Rays major league baseball team.[49]
In October 2018, Jolly appeared onHBO'sReal Time with Bill Maher and said that he and his wife, Laura, had quit the Republican party.[50] In April 2025, Jolly registered as aDemocrat.[51]
Jolly frequently serves as a political commentator, most often as a contributor toMSNBC.[13]
After formally joining the Democratic Party that April, in June of 2025 Jolly announced a campaign forGovernor of Florida for the2026 election.[52]
Jolly states that unlikeCharlie Crist who used to say, "I didn't leave the party. The [Republican party] party left me", his experience is different as he himself left the Republican Party and changed his views. He argues that this is a strength not a weakness as opposed to what his critics because America "needs more politicians willing to admit they were wrong" and evolve to meet the moment where voters currently are. He also argues that many voters have also changed their beliefs in past few years.[53][54]
Jolly states that he ispro-choice having shifted his position on the issue after leaving the Republican party and he supports Florida restoringreproductive freedom and codification of theRoe v. Wade andCasey v. Planned Parenthood framework. He said that having grown up in anevangelical household as the son of a preacher, he had previously conflated being religious with opposingRoe. He affirmed his belief and change in perspective that abortion rights should be protected by law adding that if elected governor, he would introduce legislation to codify abortion rights. By July 2025, he was endorsed by the leaders of Florida'spro-choice movement, includingGwen Graham, who wrote that they trusted him and his change in perspective.[55][56][57]
Jolly has also revised his stance on gun control. Initially supporting a broad interpretation of theSecond Amendment, he now advocates for stricter firearm regulations. He has expressed support for measures such as licensing, registration, and insurance requirements for gun ownership. He has cited the2016 Pulse nightclub shooting as a turning point, noting his participation as the only Republican joining Democrats on the House floor to call for legislative action. Jolly now supports comprehensive background checks, including for private and intra-family transfers, as well as anassault weapons ban. He has stated that he views unlimited and largely unrestricted access to firearms as a primary contributor to gun violence. He said that Republicans are lying when they say that gun owners, not a lack of gun control, are the problem in cases of gun violence and mass shootings.[55][58]
Jolly says that he wants the votes of gun owners because he respects their rights and believes that they are not the problem, Florida's lack of gun violence prevention laws are. He argues that no law-abiding gun-owning voters will be hurt by his proposals which will "protect their children".[58]
Jolly said that believes that the "Democratic Party's values are absolutely right and don't need to be changed" unlike what some prominent Democrats have proposed after the 2024 Presidential election loss.[59]
Jolly is a fifth-generation Floridian.[60]
In 2005, Jolly and his first wife, Carrie, bought a condo inIndian Shores, Florida. In 2007, they bought a house inWashington, D.C..[11] Their divorce was finalized on January 16, 2014.
Jolly married Laura Donahoe on July 3, 2015.[61] Donahoe is a native ofSelinsgrove, Pennsylvania. While Jolly was her boss at the lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates in Washington, D.C., Donahoe was rated second on the 2010 annual "50 Most Beautiful People list" published byThe Hill.[62] They have two children.[63]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | David Jolly | 20,435 | 44.60 | |
| Republican | Kathleen Peters | 14,172 | 30.94 | |
| Republican | Mark Bircher | 11,203 | 24.46 | |
| Total votes | 45,810 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | David Jolly | 89,099 | 48.43 | |
| Democratic | Alex Sink | 85,642 | 46.55 | |
| Libertarian | Lucas Overby | 8,893 | 4.83 | |
| N/A | Write-ins | 328 | 0.18 | |
| Total votes | 183,962 | 100 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | David Jolly (incumbent) | 168,172 | 75.22 | |
| Libertarian | Lucas Overby | 55,318 | 24.74 | |
| Write-in | Michael Stephen Levinson | 86 | .04 | |
| Total votes | 223,576 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Charlie Crist | 184,693 | 51.90 | |||
| Republican | David Jolly (incumbent) | 171,149 | 48.10 | |||
| Total votes | 355,842 | 100.00 | ||||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||||
Jolly served only one full term in Congress, where he became known for his centrist stances, but is a well-known figure in Florida and nationally because he's been an MSNBC political contributor for years.
Over the past week, a half-dozen Washington Republicans have described Jolly's campaign against Democrat Alex Sink as a Keystone Cops operation, marked by inept fundraising, top advisers stationed hundreds of miles away from the district in the state capital and the poor optics of a just-divorced, 41-year-old candidate accompanied on the campaign trail by a girlfriend 14 years his junior. The sources would speak only on condition of anonymity.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 13th congressional district 2014–2017 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
