David Jolly is the only major Democrat running for Florida governor next year. But he’s still facing attacks and scrutiny about his Republican past over a key issue threatening party unity: abortion rights.
The former GOP representative and MSNBC political contributor has faced backlash in recent weeks from Anna Hochkammer, executive director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition political committee. The criticisms have incensed his supporters, who’ve rushed to defend him publicly.
In a state President Donald Trump won by 13 points in November, Jolly’s allies worry that beating down the lone major Democratic candidate could provide yet another hurdle in an already difficult race for the beleaguered state party.
It alternatively could pave the way for a candidate to enter the race from the left that would highlight Jolly’s past positions on abortion among others he has since renounced, creating a testy Democratic primary. Jolly’s supporters point to his turnaround on abortion rights and say the attacks are counterproductive.
In a state President Donald Trump won by 13 points in November, Jolly’s allies worry that beating down the lone major Democratic candidate could provide yet another hurdle in an already difficult race for the beleaguered state party.
It alternatively could pave the way for a candidate to enter the race from the left that would highlight Jolly’s past positions on abortion among others he has since renounced, creating a testy Democratic primary. Jolly’s supporters point to his turnaround on abortion rights and say the attacks are counterproductive.
“This is not the way I would like to see us go — to start attacking someone I think would be a very strong candidate,” said Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich, a former Democratic leader in the state Senate who said Jolly’s focus on affordability issues was key to winning over voters. “There is time to have debates when the field is settled.”
Jolly has raised his abortion record in interviews and town halls. He said he was frustrated that the Miami Herald op-ed and fundraising emails didn’t present his current views: that women should have the right to choose abortion until fetal viability, which is generally understood to start around 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Abortion regulations such as waiting periods, forced ultrasounds or counseling are unnecessary, he said.
“Keep the politicians and the laws out of the doctor’s office. That’s the principle,” he added. When it comes to minors accessing abortion, Jolly said he was a proponent of parental involvement in most cases but supports exceptions, such as when a child is in an abusive family.
The position marks a shift from when Jolly was a Republican in Congress more than 11 years ago. At the time, Jolly signed onto the Life at Conception Act that would have given full legal rights to a fertilized egg and voted in favor of limiting most abortions to 20 weeks. He also led a measure to redirect federal funding from Planned Parenthood. He bucked his party in 2015, as the lone Republican to vote against creating a fourth panel that would look into Planned Parenthood’s handling of fetal tissue remains.
Jolly said that his past positions stemmed from the Baptist faith he grew up with and having a father who was a minister. “What I got wrong in Congress was applying faith to constitutional questions,” he said. Jolly first relinquished his GOP association by registering as a no-party affiliated voter in 2018.
Some Democrats, however, do have reservations about Jolly’s evolution. A column in the progressive news site the Daily Kos called Jolly “the wrong choice for Florida Democrats,” citing his voting record on abortion and other issues.
Emily Rodrigues, president of the East Side Democrats in Broward County who ran an unsuccessful bid to become a Democratic state House nominee, said reproductive rights were key to young voters. She also said she wished she had seen Jolly out front on the issue when it was on the ballot. (Jolly has said his MSNBC contract at the time barred him from advocacy.)
“I felt like a lot of people in Democratic spaces didn’t like me talking about it because they feel like he’s our only viable candidate,” Rodrigues said. “I counter it by saying it’s very early.”
Former state Senate Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson, who unsuccessfully ran for state Democratic Party chair this year, said she thought it was fair for Jolly’s positions to be scrutinized, adding that she wished the party had been more focused on courting “a real Democrat candidate” for governor.
“Now he understands he was wrong, but when it was really critical for him to be right, he wasn’t,” she said, referring to Jolly’s time in Congress.
Former Rep. Joe Garcia, who’s engaged to Hochkammer, said he wanted Jolly to more fully explain his position and for a vigorous debate to happen around the issue.
“As we have found, the governor of Florida has vast powers we never knew he had — to spend money, move things, remove elected officials,” Garcia said, alluding to the way DeSantis has leveraged the office. “There are vast powers in the governorship, and I would expect him to use it.” Hochkammer cited examples like removing state attorneys who prosecuted doctors who performed abortions.
But Florida Democrats like attorney Jennifer Buttrick said the party should get behind the person who can win and that it was laudable for people to change their minds on key issues. She called for defunding the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition in a post on X; she’d held two fundraisers for the organization ahead of abortion amendment going before voters in the 2024 election.
“We are losing people, not winning people,” she said of Florida Democrats. “We need to have a bigger tent — not a smaller one.”