Never-Trump Republican is top Dem choice in crucial Florida primary

David Jolly, a former Republican congressman and now a Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, won a primary election on Tuesday evening, topping a crowded field of hopefuls to become the party's nominee to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Sunshine State.

DeSantis is prevented by term limits from running for a third term.

Jolly’s win sets up a race to see if a moderate Democrat can tempt a solidly Republican state to voice its frustrations with the Trump administration and, more pointedly, with Trump himself.

In many ways, that’s the crux of Jolly’s message as a candidate.

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Jolly previously served as the representative for Florida’s 13th Congressional District from 2014-2017, but, after losing the general election to Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, he began voicing disagreements with the direction of the GOP and President Donald Trump.

In 2018, Jolly published an opinion piece with NBC, stating that "you can’t be never-Trump and be a Republican."

"I was a sitting Republican member of Congress who took to the house floor and called on then-candidate Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race," Jolly said.

On the campaign trail in 2016, Jolly balked at a proposed "Muslim ban" Trump and the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump made crude remarks about advances toward women.

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"Three years later, I find myself fully immersed in a dwindling coalition of Republicans often referred to as never-Trumpers. That is, I was immersed in that coalition — last month I came to the conclusion that it was time to finally leave the Republican Party and registered with no party affiliation," Jolly said.

Now, running as a Democrat, Jolly has pitched himself as an opportunity to break Trump’s momentum.

"Since the emergence of Donald Trump in 2015 when he came down the escalator, he has disrupted the entire American experiment over the last 10 years," Jolly said in a campaign video.

"If in the state of Florida, Florida’s voters are the ones who say, ‘not anymore, ‘we will have provided a reset."

Among his top priorities, Jolly lists insurance affordability, public schools and campaign finance reform on his website. He also supports more traditionally Democratic platform elements like increasing access to abortion.

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In his campaign, Jolly has raised nearly $6.4 million, according to the Florida Department of State Division of Elections. Having secured the nomination, Jolly faces an uphill race to the general election on Nov. 3.

Florida last elected a Democrat for governor in 1994, in Lawton Chiles. Chiles served from 1991 until his death in 1998, just three weeks before the end of his second term.

Most recently, DeSantis last won reelection in a 49.4% to 40.0% victory over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, a former Biden representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization.