<\/p>\n
Democrat David Jolly (left) will face Republican Byron Donalds in November as Florida voters decide who to send to Tallahassee to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n
D.A. Varela and Pedro Portal<\/p>\n
Miami Herald<\/p>\n
This is a pivotal year for Florida to choose a new governor. A housing shortage and property insurance crisis have not been addressed enough by the Republicans in charge of the state for almost three decades. Voters are looking for new leaders to address AI and data centers. It\u2019s time for a change in direction.<\/p>\n
If voters choose the Republican on the ballot, Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, voters will be inviting more of the same: More division. New culture wars. More trampling of home rule. More costly immigration policies.<\/p>\n
And on AI, which apparently could wipe out human beings, Donalds seems very much on the wrong side. His campaign, Politico reported, is being financially supported by artificial intelligence<\/a> groups and companies seeking to build hyperscale data centers in Florida. Even though Donalds has said he would respect local<\/a> control if counties try to block them, the financial stake in his candidacy by these companies should give pause to the many voters understandably alarmed about artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n The other \u2014 and far better \u2014 option in this race is Democrat David Jolly. He\u2019s a former Tampa-area member of Congress and an ex- Republican who left the party largely because of Donald Trump. He was a GOP member of Congress from 2014 to 2017, registered without party affiliation a year later and became a Democrat in 2025 to run for governor.<\/p>\n In between Congress and the gubernatorial race, Jolly was a prominent never-Trumper and helped, in 2022, to found the fledgling Forward Party. He\u2019s a centrist, something Florida needs more of, with across-the-aisle appeal to work with a Republican Legislature. His running mate is Gwen Graham, a former congresswoman and the daughter of former Democratic Gov. Bob Graham.<\/p>\n Jolly is correctly focused on affordability and, more specifically, on homeowner insurance costs. He said he would propose a new kind of state catastrophic fund to cover hurricane and wind insurance, removing natural disaster coverage from private markets \u2014 which he said could reduce homeowners\u2019 insurance costs dramatically, as much as 60-70%. The state would assume coverage of losses from natural disasters like hurricanes, not homeowners.<\/p>\n He seems to have thought the proposal through: To generate the money for the fund, he proposed taxing insurance companies, implementing a documentary stamp tax on real estate transactions or using tourism revenue.<\/p>\n For condo owners burdened with expensive and overdue maintenance costs, he wants to create a no-interest loan program.<\/p>\n On education, he has said he would advocate for a 30% increase in teacher pay. On higher education, he would push to give Florida\u2019s qualified students preference for admission in state schools. On the issue of school vouchers, he has said that parental choice is important, but he wants to see private schools that accept the vouchers maintain the same standards and services as public schools.<\/p>\n He would work to restore reproductive freedom by trying to codify Roe v. Wade abortion-right protections into state law. He supports the long-overdue expansion of Medicaid in Florida, a ban on assault weapons and universal background checks.<\/p>\n He is skeptical about Amendment 3, the constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would eliminate certain property taxes, saying it would defund critical local services and potentially bankrupt rural counties.<\/p>\n He would also push for a one-year moratorium on new data centers to allow governments to gain a deeper understanding of the potential impacts of the large-scale developments on resources such as water and electricity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have got a lot to work out before we just hand over our environment, communities, property values and allow the Wild West<\/a> to come in,\u201d he told the Herald.<\/p>\n That stands in contrast to Donalds, who has presented a muddled message on data centers. When he first began running, he seemed to support them. Most recently, though, he has been emphasizing a new state law (SB 484<\/a>) regulating data centers that was sponsored by former Sen. Bryan Avila of Hialeah, his running mate.<\/p>\n Still, voters should think twice about trusting Donalds on this topic. His campaign received $100,000 from two companies that are part of an effort to build Project Tango, a failed proposal for a data center in Palm Beach County, Politico reported.<\/p>\n Donalds has his own ideas about how to tackle affordability and insurance. He would work to lower premiums by instituting an insurer report card<\/a> where Floridians could compare prices and performance. He also wants to reform the existing Florida Hurricane Catastrophic Fund to lower surcharges on policyholders when the fund has sufficient reserves.<\/p>\n He would focus heavily on education \u2014 his wife, Erika, is a charter-school executive \u2014 by overhauling the state\u2019s grading system for schools and welcoming more private enterprise. He also proposes cutting ultra-processed foods from lunchrooms and creating a career plan for students starting in sixth grade.<\/p>\n On Amendment 3, the property tax question, Donalds said he\u2019d move to eliminate all property taxes<\/a>, whether the amendment passes or not. (He would need to propose a constitutional amendment to voters to accomplish that.)<\/p>\n Unfortunately, voters won\u2019t be able to hear the two gubernatorial candidates debate. Though several debates had been expected, Jolly recently said he wouldn\u2019t participate because of \u201cbad faith and dishonesty<\/a> in our politics today…\u201d That\u2019s a misstep, and voters are the ones who will pay the price.<\/p>\n Donalds has an overwhelming financial advantage \u2014 about $110 million versus Jolly\u2019s $10 million \u2014 and Democrats haven\u2019t won a statewide race since 2018. But some polls have indicated that this face is tightening up or may be a tossup. One thing is clear: Florida needs a change.<\/p>\n The Herald endorses DAVID JOLLY for Florida governor.<\/p>\n BEHIND THE STORY MORE <\/a> Who decides the political endorsements? <\/p>\n