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Republican congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds is taking aim at his Democratic opponent David Jolly over his shifting political positions and party affiliation, in a contest that is resurfacing themes from the 2016 congressional race between Jolly and Charlie Crist.
“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,” Jolly said about Charlie Crist when Jolly was a Republican running against Crist, a Democrat, for Congress in 2016.
Ten years later, Jolly is now a Democrat running for Florida governor and facing the same criticism for allegedly changing his positions for political gain, this time, in his race for governor against Donalds.
“The shift in positions by David Jolly is not because of personal conviction, it is purely because of political convenience,” Donalds told Fox News Digital, referencing that 2016 exchange.
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Some of the shifts in Jolly’s positions include issues like abortion, immigration, and drilling off the coast of Florida.
As a Republican, Jolly said he believed “life begins at conception,” authored legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and co-sponsored fetal-personhood legislation. He also voted for a federal 20-week abortion ban. Now running as a Democrat, Jolly calls himself “pro-choice,” supports codifying the Roe v. Wade framework and says he would veto legislation restricting abortion access as governor.
Jolly’s immigration views have also shifted sharply as he attempts to run for governor in a state that voted for Trump each of the last three presidential cycles by wide margins, with many voters motivated by Trump’s immigration policies.
As a Republican, he campaigned on securing the border, supported tighter screening for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and voted for the American SAFE Act. Today, he says the country should have “wide gates” for people coming to work or seek asylum, argues that crossing the border without legal status should not necessarily be treated as a crime in those circumstances and has called the Republican link between immigration and crime “gross,” “immoral” and “wrong.”
As voters consistently say that affordability is a top-of-mind concern, Donalds is also hitting Jolly’s record on healthcare as an example of inconsistency that shows a lack of credibility on the issue.
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“When David Jolly was in Congress, he opposed Obamacare,” Donalds said. “Now trying to run for governor he wants to expand Obamacare in Florida. I mean, these are just some of the complete shifts that we’ve seen in what he stands for.”
Another issue Donalds is taking issue with involves the period after the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which sent oil and tar balls washing ashore along roughly 178 miles of Florida coastline, contributed to an estimated loss of 1.88 million planned recreational visits in northwest Florida and cost the region $1.3 billion in visitor spending, $2.04 billion in economic output and more than 20,000 job-years.
Within a year of the spill, Jolly’s lobbying firm represented a client that publicly advocated for legislation that could have expanded offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Three Bridges Advisors listed H.R. 909, the Roadmap for America’s Energy Future, among the subjects of its 2011 lobbying activity for the Free Enterprise Nation, which supported the bill. Jolly also wrote a post on the group’s website stating that Free Enterprise Nation was “advocating for” the legislation.
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Jolly said he had “never lobbied for offshore drilling,” but PolitiFact rated that claim “Mostly False” after finding that Jolly acknowledged attending a meeting where the bill was discussed, which lobbying experts said technically counted as lobbying.
Donalds cited the controversy to Fox News Digital saying, “Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of America, David Jolly went and became a lobbyist for more oil drilling off the coast of Florida, that is a fact and so what we’re seeing is a history of somebody who does everything possible, will say whatever, will be paid by whomever that are only in the interest of David Jolly.”
With polls showing a tightening race, the RealClearPolitics average gives Donalds a roughly 4-point lead. The candidates are also sparring over debate scheduling: Donalds has agreed to three proposed debates, while Jolly, who previously accepted two other debate invitations, has now ruled out participating in debates this cycle.
“Now he’s ducking debates,” Donalds told Fox News Digital. “He won’t debate me because he knows that on a debate stage, I will hold him accountable for these things.”
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Jolly has hit Donalds on the campaign trail on a variety of issues as he tries to become the first Democrat to win a governor’s race in Florida since Lawton Chiles won reelection in 1994. Primarily, Jolly has focused on data centers and labeling Donalds as a candidate more interested in partisan culture-war battles than addressing Florida’s rising housing, insurance and health care costs.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Jolly campaign for comment.
Donalds told Fox News Digital that Jolly’s flips on both party registration and the issues is something his campaign will continue to focus on.
“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,” Donalds said.
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