By Noni Hayes
Orlando, FL—With every return to a community, David Jolly treats it like it was his first. Running for governor has been a learning experience, and he gives a full report from city to city, Liberty County to Dade: who he met, why they are hurting, what can be done, and why.
Jolly has said that he sees the brutality of the relentless culture wars targeting Black Floridians. And he talks about it to all audiences. “The hatred has broken us. It’s more demoralizing than ever before, And I will end it,” Jolly says. Aquasia Johnson of Orlando is one of those voters who has noticed. “He’s different. He’s very different, and I appreciate his passion. I feel he’s very solid on the issues that matter to us.”
Some of those issues were discussed in conversations with Central Florida pastors. Reverand Willie C. Barnes of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Eatonville was concerned about GenZ voter engagement. The Jolly campaign has a robust GenZ project underway and was endorsed by popular Orlando Congressman Maxwell Frost, who is the first GenZ member elected to the US House of Representatives. ”What proves his passion is that he listens to people on the right and the left and he heard that people want a moratorium on data centers and it is now part of his platform,” Maxwell said. Dr. LaVon W. Bracy and Reverend Robert Spooney discussed the Democratic Party’s propensity to undervalue Black women and the MAGA takeover of FAMU. The Jolly campaign has 5 Black women in leadership roles. His senior advisor among them. Strike Forward for FAMU, an alumni organization focused on preserving the nation’s #1 public HBCU’s culture and academic integrity, also endorsed Jolly. “I’m grateful for the Strike Forward for FAMU endorsement. It is part of a meaningful partnership we’ve built to invest in FAMU and return our state university system to one of institutional autonomy, academic distinction, and student success,” Jolly said. Florida Publisher Rich Black announced that ONYX Magazine was endorsing David Jolly.
As presumptive nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties, Jolly and Byron Donalds are constantly matched up in polls. According to several publicly released polls conducted this year, Donalds, a Black congressman endorsed by President Donald Trump, trails Jolly by 6 – 4 points in several credible polls despite a $20 million ad blitz. Roadblocks to his path to victory include polling showing 69% of crucial independent voters and 36% of Republicans have serious doubts about Donalds when they learn he’s raised tens of millions of dollars from private equity interests, billionaires and AI data center builders.
The betrayal factor may account for Donalds’ absence at campaign appearances among his own people. And he bears the brunt of his party’s racist policies as slurs and condemnation clutters social media. GenZ voters like Gia Brahmbhatt have a more cerebral assessment of his candidacy. “Byron Donalds in my opinion is just another radical Republican. David Jolly’s plans make sense and deal with affordability.”
