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Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
In usual self-sabotage, Florida Democrats argue over gubernatorial candidate
The Democratic Party already has an uphill battle to retake the Florida governor's office after more than 30 years of Republican dominance. Debating whether the party's only main candidate so far is pure in his support for abortion rights seems like a waste of time for a party that hasn't won any statewide elections in years. And, yet, you can always count on liberals to shoot themselves in the foot with purity and ideological tests, as it's happening with a debate surrounding David Jolly, the former Tampa-area Republican congressman who's running for governor as a Democrat. The infighting has been playing out this month on the opinion pages of the Miami Herald and elsewhere. It began with an op-ed by Anna Hochkammer, executive director of the Florida Women's Freedom Coalition political committee, who urged Democratic voters to be skeptical about Jolly's abortion stance. Jolly, the son of a Baptist pastor, did cast anti-abortion votes when he was in Congress, including signing onto the Life at Conception Act that would have given full legal rights to a fertilized egg. He has said he's evolved on the issue and now supports abortion up to the point of viability, usually at around 24 weeks of gestation, and is against onerous abortion regulations such as waiting periods and mandatory ultrasounds. Many Democrats are upset by Hochkammer's op-ed and her political committee's fundraising calls on the topic — one them says, 'We're not going to let 'moderate' men like David Jolly posture as reasonable,' Politico reported. Party figures fear the controversy could motivate somebody else to jump in the Democratic primary and drag Jolly into a costly intra-party battle before the 2026 general elections happen. The debate over Jolly's support for abortion rights ignores that he still is vastly more supportive of reproductive rights than any Republican he's likely to face if he's the Democratic nominee in November 2026. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, whose gubernatorial bid has been endorsed by President Trump, supports banning abortions in most cases after six weeks, according to Politico. A group of high-profile, pro-life women from Miami and Florida penned an op-ed in response to Hochkammer. On Jolly's evolution on abortion, they wrote: ...'when faced with the tangible and tragic harms resulting from restrictive abortion policies, his view changed,' and that he vowed to try to put into law Amendment 4, a ballot initiative that got over 57% voter support last year but failed to meet a 60% threshold for passage. Abortion rights are obviously an important issue in Florida after Republicans passed an extreme six-week ban. But, as a political issue, Democrats learned last year that reproductive rights did not help them win seats as they expected. Trump carried Florida easily even though Amendment 4 got majority support. Democrats, if they still have a chance to win a gubernatorial election in Florida — and that's a big if — should focus on the issues that are top of mind for voters, mainly the state's housing, affordability and property insurance crises, issues that Jolly's campaign says he would focus on. It's clear that some Democratic heavyweights are trying to clear the field for Jolly and avoid a primary, something that could backfire if progressives feel party leaders are engaging in the type of kingmaking that cost Hillary Clinton support in 2016, when many felt the party sidelined U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. A column posted on the Daily Kos website called Jolly 'Charlie Crist 2.0' in reference to the former Republican-governor-turned Democrat who lost to Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 by a landslide and failed to motivate the Democratic base. The real problem isn't Crist or Jolly, but the lack of a Democratic bench of strong candidates who can run statewide. Republicans, on the other hand, have a vast roster of proven political candidates. There's still the possibility of a bloody primary between Donalds and First Lady Casey DeSantis if she decides to run. But we know that, once a nominee is chosen, Republicans will fall in line, as they did when Trump became the presidential nominee in 2016. As the underdog, the Florida Democratic Party has a lot more to lose by engaging in ideological fights with each other. Click here to send the letter.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Four-star DB Devin Jackson 'feels way better about Miami' after visit
Miami, despite being in-state for Devin Jackson, is a new program among his long list of contenders. The Hurricanes didn't offer until this spring, not long after the arrival of Will Harris from the rival Florida Gators -- where he had Jackson on board as a commitment last year. Advertisement A four-star out of Orlando (Fla.) The First Academy, the rising-senior took an official visit to Coral Gables over the weekend and admits Mario Cristobal's program is working its way up his list. "I got to see the character of the coaches and the players," Jackson said. "All that matters coming into a program and I feel like all of that checked a green box for me. I feel way better about Miami. "It's a great school with a great culture." In experiencing said culture, another former UF commitment under Harris was also on his official visit in Jaelen Waters. The Tampa-area standout has been committed to the Hurricanes since March. Advertisement Time with the duo creates more familiarity with The U. "Me and Waters knew each other since we were at Florida together," Jackson said. "He knows how great of a coach he (Harris) is. It's still the same love with Harris. He says I'm still a major priority to him and Coach Cristobal. It's just the relationship we've built." CLASS OF 2026 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State CLASS OF 2027 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State TRANSFER PORTAL: Full coverage | Player ranking | Team ranking | Transfer search | Transfer Tracker RIVALS CAMP SERIES: Rivals Five-Star heading back to Indy | Rivals Five-Star roster | Schedule/info Oregon gets Jackson on campus for the second time this year on Friday. Penn State will earn an official visit during next week before Nebraska wraps up the slate beginning June 20. Advertisement Miami was once outside of that group of contenders, but it no longer appears to be the case. "Miami is close to home and the culture and everything at Miami is just great," Jackson said. A verbal commitment will come this summer, between late June and mid August as the top-20 safety projection gets into evaluation mode when the trips are each completed. "I'm taking my time with it," he said. "Not rushing anything. Either August or if I know where I'm going after officials I'll commit in July. "I have to see after my official visits where it weighs out." Marcus Benjamin contributed to this report.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jolly enters governor's race as a Democrat: ‘The Free State of Florida is a lie'
David Jolly, the former Tampa-area congressman who left the Republican Party seven years ago, is holding court with the press in an Aventura Hilton conference room, rolling out an announcement that everyone knows is coming: He's running for governor as a Democrat. 'We have an affordability crisis in the state that has people from all walks of life questioning whether or not they can continue to live in Florida,' says the 52-year-old attorney and father of two kids, ages 6 and 4. 'I think the affordability crisis is hitting everyone from every walk of life, and I think there's a strong case to be made that Republicans have largely created this environment.' Jolly is the first Democrat of note to launch a campaign ahead of the November 2026 election, despite joining the party only six weeks ago. For the Republicans, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is running with President Donald Trump's endorsement, and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis is mulling her own campaign to succeed her term-limited husband. Jolly, who left Congress in 2017 and registered without party affiliation a year later, has been on something of a charm offensive of late. He has been traveling the state and meeting with voters in churches to raise his profile and listen to frustrations with Florida's Republican-dominated government. 'This is a home for the rich and the reckless under [Gov.] Ron DeSantis,' he says. Politically, Jolly is moving in the opposite direction of the state he wants to lead. Florida is becoming more Republican, voting for Trump in the last three presidential elections. Miami-Dade County, where Jolly, the son of a Southern Baptist minister, lived as a young boy, voted for a Republican president for the first time since 1988. But in a wide-ranging, half-hour interview, Jolly said Floridians are waking up to the other trends in Florida under Republican rule: The Sunshine State is becoming less affordable, less tolerant and less accommodating to those who don't share the governor's religious and ideological beliefs. 'The 'Free state of Florida,'' Jolly said, 'is a lie.' Political handicappers aren't likely to give Jolly — or any Democrat — much of a chance to win in 2026, even with an open governor's seat up for grabs. Republicans now control every statewide elected position and hold super-majorities in the state Legislature. Active GOP voters outnumber active registered Democrats by more than 1.2 million. Even Jason Pizzo, Florida Democrats' former Senate leader — whose district includes the Hilton where Jolly met with reporters Monday — declared the Democratic Party 'dead' when he announced in April that he was registering as an independent ahead of his own planned run for governor. Jolly, who lives in the Gulf Coast town of Belleair Bluffs with his wife and kids, also shares some common threads with the most recent Democratic candidate for governor: Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor and ex-congressman from the Tampa Bay area who lost by nearly 20 points to DeSantis in 2022. Jolly knows Crist well, having lost his Pinellas County seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to the former governor in 2016. 'Charlie would always say, 'I didn't leave the party. The party left me,'' Jolly said, explaining how his political experience is different. 'I left the Republican Party. I changed.' What follows are exchanges from Jolly's interview with the Miami Herald, edited for brevity and clarity. Q: Why in this environment today, in Florida, are you running for governor as a Democrat? A: I'm running for governor because we have an affordability crisis in the state that has people from all walks of life questioning whether or not they can continue to live in Florida. That is a lived experience for my wife and I. We have two young kids, 6 and 4. I think the affordability crisis is hitting everyone from every walk of life, and I think there's a strong case to be made that Republicans have largely created this environment, refused to do anything about it, and I hope to change that. Q: You were Republican, you became independent, and now you are full on embracing the Democratic ideas. How do you tell people that we should believe you now? A: Charlie [Crist] would always say, 'I didn't leave the party. The party left me.' I left the Republican Party. I changed. I tested a different theory in politics. Is it okay to change your mind? Is it okay to grow? … That journey was a 10-year journey, not a 10-month journey … I supported, as a Republican, marriage equality, gun control, climate change, campaign finance reform. Republicans didn't want me. Democrats didn't need me. I conflated religious beliefs with being anti Roe [v. Wade] when I entered politics. That's true. I also, though, was someone looking for solutions. I was the only Republican in Congress to vote against the Planned Parenthood investigation, the only one when Republicans moved to defund it. I offered a compromise to move the money to community health centers so that there would be a continuation of care in communities across Florida and across the country. It wasn't really a pivot for me to register as a Democrat. I had kind of been there all along — not all along — but you know, during my [no-party-affiliated] years, I was an ally of the Democratic Party. So it has not been a significant pivot. Q: What are your thoughts on the current state of Florida Ron DeSantis has created? A: This is where it's a lived experience. We have a 6 and 4 year old. We wrestle with the question, 'Do we raise our kids in Florida?' This is a home for the rich and the reckless under Ron DeSantis. Whether that's because he favors developers, he favors the billionaires over the working class, whether it's because he ignores public health … denies science where it matters. Whether it's his attack on academia, whether it's his notion that he wants to divide us over who we love or who we worship … The implicit biases behind the DeSantis administration are ugly, they're gross … The 'Free state of Florida' is a lie. We've got a shot to change this. Q: From your perspective, what have [Democrats] gotten wrong? A: I've run more campaigns than I've been a candidate in so I know national Democrats and state Democrats have failed to meet voters where they're at. This is not a federal race. This is about the affordability crisis, education vouchers, corruption in Tallahassee. If Democrats start talking about Donald Trump in the governor's race, we lose. This race isn't about Donald Trump. It's arguably not about DeSantis. It's about the direction DeSantis has taken us. And so part of that is just kind of messaging. Are we on the right message for where voters are? Q: Democrats have a serious problem in South Florida with the Hispanic vote. How do you plan to handle that? A: We have to build a coalition that is broad and deep in communities across the state that includes socioeconomic, demographic subject matter, regional. We have to build and invest in communities where people believe in change. I do think in the past, Democrats have been too hesitant to condemn the regime, to condemn communism, to condemn socialism. We can embrace capitalism that has fair rules that allow for opportunity for all people. We can condemn the regime but lift up the Cuban people. That is true of Venezuela, to Haitian Americans and others. … If we can change a conversation on this in Florida, we've changed it nationally. Republicans for too long have succeeded in conflating immigration with crime. It's ugly, it's xenophobic, it's wrong and it's immoral. We can recognize and celebrate the contribution of immigrants, their contribution to our economy, their contributions to our culture. Lift them up. Celebrate them. Welcome them. Q: How does Jason Pizzo play into the upcoming elections? A: I'm going to say something you don't hear a lot of Democrats say. I have enormous respect for Jason Pizzo because he followed his political convictions. I didn't know Jason Pizzo 90 days ago. This isn't an area that I'm from. I disagree with him when he says the Democratic Party is 'dead.' I think the Democratic Party is alive and well and capable of winning next November. But I'm not going to criticize Jason … My job is to build a coalition that he can believe in and everyone else can. Q: You alluded to the Hope Florida scandal, what's your take? A: It sure appears criminal, and I think an investigation is merited, and I think investigation is likely being obstructed by Republican allies of the governor. And I think it's clear that $10 million was stolen from the Medicaid program. I think the governor and First Lady are reacting with vanity, which doesn't surprise me, and they'd be smart to just shut up. Q: What do you think of DeSantis' immigration blueprint? A: When Ron DeSantis plays theater with our migrant community, putting them on planes, sending them to Martha's Vineyard, or using tax dollars to go to Texas to grab a plane or whatever he was doing, that is just ugly, immoral behavior, and should be condemned. Q: Should Florida force local law enforcement to join the 287(g) task force program? A: The federal government has a responsibility to provide for immigration enforcement. That's just the reality … My concern is that I think Republicans are just racing to embrace the president in a way that it's skipping over due process, skipping over funding, it's ignoring enforcement in criminal justice in other areas where local law enforcement should be looking … I think it's just a matter of getting it right. Q: And the affordability crisis that you're talking about specifically is housing? A: It is largely driven by housing costs, access to housing, contributed to mainly by the property-insurance crisis and the property-tax crisis. But I think we need big and bold changes … I think we need a CAT fund for property insurance, a state catastrophic fund that removes hurricane and natural disaster risks from the private market. You can actually reduce private insurance by about 60% if you do that in a lot of policies. Q: Are you not prepared to offer a property tax solution because you don't have one yet, or because you just don't want to let it out today? A: I believe we need property tax reform, but I believe it needs to be sober, reflect math, reflect revenue needs, include experts and economic growth and a real study, and then ultimately put those proposals in front of the voters, so that voters can decide. I don't have a 10-point-plan on property-tax relief, but I think it is something that we need to do. I'm glad Tallahassee is talking about it. I just think they're talking about it with a level of irresponsibility that should concern us. Q: Are any of our local billionaires endorsing you? A: I'm gonna leave that for next week. … we do have many of the traditional Democratic donors, supporters, electeds, former electeds … We have built a broad coalition.
Miami Herald
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Jolly enters governor's race as a Democrat: ‘The Free State of Florida is a lie'
David Jolly, the former Tampa-area congressman who left the Republican Party seven years ago, is holding court with the press in an Aventura Hilton conference room, rolling out an announcement that everyone knows is coming: He's running for governor as a Democrat. 'We have an affordability crisis in the state that has people from all walks of life questioning whether or not they can continue to live in Florida,' says the 52-year-old attorney and father of two kids, ages 6 and 4. 'I think the affordability crisis is hitting everyone from every walk of life, and I think there's a strong case to be made that Republicans have largely created this environment.' Jolly is the first Democrat of note to launch a campaign ahead of the November 2026 election, despite joining the party only six weeks ago. For the Republicans, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is running with President Donald Trump's endorsement, and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis is mulling her own campaign to succeed her term-limited husband. Jolly, who left Congress in 2017 and registered without party affiliation a year later, has been on something of a charm offensive of late. He has been traveling the state and meeting with voters in churches to raise his profile and listen to frustrations with Florida's Republican-dominated government. 'This is a home for the rich and the reckless under [Gov.] Ron DeSantis,' he says. Politically, Jolly is moving in the opposite direction of the state he wants to lead. Florida is becoming more Republican, voting for Trump in the last three presidential elections. Miami-Dade County, where Jolly, the son of a Southern Baptist minister, lived as a young boy, voted for a Republican president for the first time since 1988. But in a wide-ranging, half-hour interview, Jolly said Floridians are waking up to the other trends in Florida under Republican rule: The Sunshine State is becoming less affordable, less tolerant and less accommodating to those who don't share the governor's religious and ideological beliefs. 'The 'Free state of Florida,'' Jolly said, 'is a lie.' Political handicappers aren't likely to give Jolly — or any Democrat — much of a chance to win in 2026, even with an open governor's seat up for grabs. Republicans now control every statewide elected position and hold super-majorities in the state Legislature. Active GOP voters outnumber active registered Democrats by more than 1.2 million. Even Jason Pizzo, Florida Democrats' former Senate leader — whose district includes the Hilton where Jolly met with reporters Monday — declared the Democratic Party 'dead' when he announced in April that he was registering as an independent ahead of his own planned run for governor. Jolly, who lives in the Gulf Coast town of Belleair Bluffs with his wife and kids, also shares some common threads with the most recent Democratic candidate for governor: Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor and ex-congressman from the Tampa Bay area who lost by nearly 20 points to DeSantis in 2022. Jolly knows Crist well, having lost his Pinellas County seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to the former governor in 2016. 'Charlie would always say, 'I didn't leave the party. The party left me,'' Jolly said, explaining how his political experience is different. 'I left the Republican Party. I changed.' What follows are exchanges from Jolly's interview with the Miami Herald, edited for brevity and clarity. Q: Why in this environment today, in Florida, are you running for governor as a Democrat? A: I'm running for governor because we have an affordability crisis in the state that has people from all walks of life questioning whether or not they can continue to live in Florida. That is a lived experience for my wife and I. We have two young kids, 6 and 4. I think the affordability crisis is hitting everyone from every walk of life, and I think there's a strong case to be made that Republicans have largely created this environment, refused to do anything about it, and I hope to change that. Q: You were Republican, you became independent, and now you are full on embracing the Democratic ideas. How do you tell people that we should believe you now? A: Charlie [Crist] would always say, 'I didn't leave the party. The party left me.' I left the Republican Party. I changed. I tested a different theory in politics. Is it okay to change your mind? Is it okay to grow? … That journey was a 10-year journey, not a 10-month journey … I supported, as a Republican, marriage equality, gun control, climate change, campaign finance reform. Republicans didn't want me. Democrats didn't need me. I conflated religious beliefs with being anti Roe [v. Wade] when I entered politics. That's true. I also, though, was someone looking for solutions. I was the only Republican in Congress to vote against the Planned Parenthood investigation, the only one when Republicans moved to defund it. I offered a compromise to move the money to community health centers so that there would be a continuation of care in communities across Florida and across the country. It wasn't really a pivot for me to register as a Democrat. I had kind of been there all along — not all along — but you know, during my [no-party-affiliated] years, I was an ally of the Democratic Party. So it has not been a significant pivot. Q: What are your thoughts on the current state of Florida Ron DeSantis has created? A: This is where it's a lived experience. We have a 6 and 4 year old. We wrestle with the question, 'Do we raise our kids in Florida?' This is a home for the rich and the reckless under Ron DeSantis. Whether that's because he favors developers, he favors the billionaires over the working class, whether it's because he ignores public health … denies science where it matters. Whether it's his attack on academia, whether it's his notion that he wants to divide us over who we love or who we worship … The implicit biases behind the DeSantis administration are ugly, they're gross … The 'Free state of Florida' is a lie. We've got a shot to change this. Q: From your perspective, what have [Democrats] gotten wrong? A: I've run more campaigns than I've been a candidate in so I know national Democrats and state Democrats have failed to meet voters where they're at. This is not a federal race. This is about the affordability crisis, education vouchers, corruption in Tallahassee. If Democrats start talking about Donald Trump in the governor's race, we lose. This race isn't about Donald Trump. It's arguably not about DeSantis. It's about the direction DeSantis has taken us. And so part of that is just kind of messaging. Are we on the right message for where voters are? Q: Democrats have a serious problem in South Florida with the Hispanic vote. How do you plan to handle that? A: We have to build a coalition that is broad and deep in communities across the state that includes socioeconomic, demographic subject matter, regional. We have to build and invest in communities where people believe in change. I do think in the past, Democrats have been too hesitant to condemn the regime, to condemn communism, to condemn socialism. We can embrace capitalism that has fair rules that allow for opportunity for all people. We can condemn the regime but lift up the Cuban people. That is true of Venezuela, to Haitian Americans and others. … If we can change a conversation on this in Florida, we've changed it nationally. Republicans for too long have succeeded in conflating immigration with crime. It's ugly, it's xenophobic, it's wrong and it's immoral. We can recognize and celebrate the contribution of immigrants, their contribution to our economy, their contributions to our culture. Lift them up. Celebrate them. Welcome them. Q: How does Jason Pizzo play into the upcoming elections? A: I'm going to say something you don't hear a lot of Democrats say. I have enormous respect for Jason Pizzo because he followed his political convictions. I didn't know Jason Pizzo 90 days ago. This isn't an area that I'm from. I disagree with him when he says the Democratic Party is 'dead.' I think the Democratic Party is alive and well and capable of winning next November. But I'm not going to criticize Jason … My job is to build a coalition that he can believe in and everyone else can. Q: You alluded to the Hope Florida scandal, what's your take? A: It sure appears criminal, and I think an investigation is merited, and I think investigation is likely being obstructed by Republican allies of the governor. And I think it's clear that $10 million was stolen from the Medicaid program. I think the governor and First Lady are reacting with vanity, which doesn't surprise me, and they'd be smart to just shut up. Q: What do you think of DeSantis' immigration blueprint? A: When Ron DeSantis plays theater with our migrant community, putting them on planes, sending them to Martha's Vineyard, or using tax dollars to go to Texas to grab a plane or whatever he was doing, that is just ugly, immoral behavior, and should be condemned. Q: Should Florida force local law enforcement to join the 287(g) task force program? A: The federal government has a responsibility to provide for immigration enforcement. That's just the reality … My concern is that I think Republicans are just racing to embrace the president in a way that it's skipping over due process, skipping over funding, it's ignoring enforcement in criminal justice in other areas where local law enforcement should be looking … I think it's just a matter of getting it right. Q: And the affordability crisis that you're talking about specifically is housing? A: It is largely driven by housing costs, access to housing, contributed to mainly by the property-insurance crisis and the property-tax crisis. But I think we need big and bold changes … I think we need a CAT fund for property insurance, a state catastrophic fund that removes hurricane and natural disaster risks from the private market. You can actually reduce private insurance by about 60% if you do that in a lot of policies. Q: Are you not prepared to offer a property tax solution because you don't have one yet, or because you just don't want to let it out today? A: I believe we need property tax reform, but I believe it needs to be sober, reflect math, reflect revenue needs, include experts and economic growth and a real study, and then ultimately put those proposals in front of the voters, so that voters can decide. I don't have a 10-point-plan on property-tax relief, but I think it is something that we need to do. I'm glad Tallahassee is talking about it. I just think they're talking about it with a level of irresponsibility that should concern us. Q: Are any of our local billionaires endorsing you? A: I'm gonna leave that for next week. … we do have many of the traditional Democratic donors, supporters, electeds, former electeds … We have built a broad coalition.
Business Journals
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Christopher Massie
Banking & Financial Services | New Hire Christopher Massie Hired at LMCU With over a decade of experience in business lending, I'm passionate about helping Tampa-area businesses grow. I'm active in the Secured Finance Network and CREW Tampa Bay, serving on the Excellence Awards Committee. Whether leading my team or working directly with clients, I believe in building genuine, human connections. By understanding what drives business owners, I can better support their goals. At LMCU, I'm proud to work alongside a talented, committed team.
