![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/byron-donalds-13.jpg\")
Republican US Congressional Representative Byron Donalds serving Floridas 19th congressional district campaigns and speaks on insurance affordability at Caddy\u2019s Treasure Island. Credit: Dave Decker\/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nRepublican US Congressional Representative Byron Donalds serving Floridas 19th congressional district campaigns and speaks on insurance affordability at Caddy\u2019s Treasure Island. Credit: Dave Decker\/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
Byron Donalds says David Jolly \u201cisn\u2019t doing much of anything\u201d on the campaign trail, but Jolly is firing back that it\u2019s Donalds who dropped out of what would have been\u00a0the first one-on-one events between the two men running for governor of Florida.<\/p>\n
Those verbal exchanges took place over the Labor Day weekend, when both men made separate campaign appearances in Tampa.<\/p>\n
Donalds went first, speaking Saturday afternoon at an event with veterans near MacDill Air Force Base, where he accused his Democratic opponent of running a stealth campaign similar to what other Democrats have done in winning governorships and, in the case of Joe Biden, the presidency in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the primary a couple of weeks ago, we have been doing events, rallies, Q&As, all over Florida,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cBut I noticed that Jolly does not take questions. \u2026 He\u2019s never around for the voters to ask him something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donalds compared Jolly\u2019s campaign to those of Arizona\u2019s Katie Hobbs in 2022, Virginia\u2019s Abigail Spanberger in 2025, and Joe Biden\u2019s for president in 2020, complaining they ran \u201clike potted plants, never saying anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[He] ran the very famous basement campaign,\u201d Donalds said of Biden.<\/p>\n
Jolly wasn\u2019t having any of that when asked about it Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fiction,\u201d he told the Phoenix while attending the\u00a0West Central Florida Labor Council Labor Day Picnic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re standing at a picnic talking about this. Last week, I was in Pensacola. Tallahassee. Jacksonville. Miami. All in about four days. If there\u2019s one thing that our campaign\u2019s been known for, it\u2019s been the Lawton Chiles approach of the last 18 months. That\u2019s the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Then-state Sen. Lawton Chiles walked 1,000 miles from Pensacola to Miami on the way to victory in the 1970 U.S. Senate race.)<\/p>\n
And Jolly says it\u2019s Donalds who backed out of a scheduled event between the two at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club later this month.\u201cI will tell you that he\u2019s just cancelled on one we were going to do jointly at Tiger Tampa Bay,\u201d Jolly said. \u201cHe pulled out of that, and now he pulled out of doing it solo and he\u2019s sending Avila.\u201d<\/p>\n
A board member with the Tampa Tiger Bay Club Monday confirmed to the Phoenix that the Donalds campaign had initially agreed to appear jointly with Jolly. However, the board member continued, the campaign called later to say Donalds wanted to appear separately, and then reached out again to say he would not appear at all, but instead could offer his running mate, former Miami-Dade County Republican state Sen. Bryan Avila.<\/p>\n
A source close to the Donalds campaign said it never confirmed Byron would attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no point was it on our calendar,\u201d said the source, adding that that the campaign learned of the appointment \u201cafter the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avila is now scheduled to appear at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club on Sept. 18. Jolly is scheduled to speak on Sept. 25.<\/p>\n
Beginning stages<\/p>\n
Both men said their campaigns are in the beginning stages of planning debates that definitely will happen sometime in the next eight weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s been communication among camps,\u201d Jolly said Monday.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get the logistics worked out on our side,\u201d Donalds said Saturday.<\/p>\n
Jolly says he hopes that, when the two do convene, the setup creates more light than heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no interest in a debate for sports and to inject more toxicity into the conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cI really mean that. I don\u2019t see any value in a format that puts in front of people that cheer and they boo and create memes and do whatever. That\u2019s a social media game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why Tiger Bay\u2019s a great format,\u201d he added. \u201cLet the people ask the questions. Give them an award for the hardest questions, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Donalds said its important for the voters to know where Jolly stands on the issues, which is why he reiterated his request on Saturday for three debates before the general election. \u201cWe are looking forward to those debates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jolly is as well, but says the charge he\u2019s running a \u201cbasement campaign\u201d reflects that \u201cwe\u2019re seeing a campaign on their side that\u2019s struggling to find their footing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve tried the culture war hits. They\u2019ve tried tax hits. They\u2019re trying guns and immigration. Now they\u2019re trying the repeat of what Trump did against Biden, because that\u2019s all they know how to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n