There's still more than a week before the primary elections for governor of Florida are decided, but the two major parties' leading contenders to succeed Ron DeSantis are already attacking each other on culture issues.
The most recent contretemps between Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly took place Saturday, with Jolly blasting Donalds for his just-released television and digital ad criticizing the Democratic candidate on LGBTQ+ rights. The 30-second ad features video clips of Jolly defending local governments' ability to paint murals in honor of the LGBTQ+ community and talking about "gender-affirming care" for minors.
Jolly criticized the ad while speaking in The Villages on Saturday morning, saying Donalds spent $25 million on an ad that "doesn't once mention Trump's economy, doesn't once mention the cost of housing or healthcare, or the cost of food or gas."
"You know what he spends it on? To attack the LGBTQ+ community," Jolly said. "It is shameful. What kind of leader divides people?"
The Jolly campaign sent out a press release hitting Donalds about the ad, arguing, "Not once does he mention the threat that data centers pose to our economy and to our environment."
Donalds fired back, telling the Florida Phoenix on Saturday following a campaign speech at the Tampa Firefighters Museum that he has aired ads about affordability that featured the candidate playing basketball with his sons) and one that mentioned his "ratepayer protection plan" regarding data centers in Florida.
"But we're also going to tell voters the truth, and you'll notice he doesn't say that it was false," Donalds said about the new ad. "That he believes in transgender surgeries for our kids. He believes that boys should be in women sports, and that is not what the people of Florida want."
Donalds said he's going to lean in on cultural issues to frame his general election fight against Jolly (assuming each wins his primary). According to Donalds, Jolly — a former Republican — has had to move too far left to assure Democratic about his bona fides as the likely standard bearer for the party this fall.
"We have been very clear," Donalds said. "We are going to make sure we make Florida affordable. We're going to protect our environment, but we're also very clear about the cultural differences between David Jolly and myself, and those stark differences that really impact the future of our state."
Under DeSantis, Florida has been aggressive on controversial cultural issues. For example, DeSantis signed legislation in 2021 barring athletes identifying as transgender from participating in girls' or women's sports teams at public schools and universities.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state restrictions on transgender athletes participating in female sports.
In his speech in Tampa on Saturday, Donalds leaned into the transgender issue — joined onstage by fellow Republicans U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, Florida Agriculture Secretary Wilton Simpson, Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia, and U.S. Reps. Kat Cammack and Gus Bilirakis (and his wife, Erika).
"He still thinks it's OK for boys to be in girls' sports," Donalds said of Jolly. "That's exactly wrong. And so we have somebody who wants to lead Florida who doesn't believe some of the basic cultural decency that you and I believe and that hard-working red-blooded Floridians believe. This man is a Trojan horse for the Democrat Socialists of America, and in 87 days we're going to defeat him, too."
"We want our young girls to grow up to be women," Donalds added. "And mothers. Because we are not going to allow the crazy radical left to steal the puberty from our young girls. We are going to protect our young girls in the state of Florida."
Jolly, speaking in The Villages, said: "I'm running for governor because life is too expensive. "Floridians are worried about the cost of housing, healthcare, food and gas — not the color of their sidewalks or the governor's opinion on their personal life."
Florida Phoenix 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: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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