June 5, 2025 • 17 mins
David Jolly, a former Republican Congressman from Pinellas County, is running for Florida Governor as a Democrat. We ask him about his stances on the state's issues and whether a Democrat stands a chance in a state where Republicans have a million vote edge.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here beyond the news. We're recording this interview
with someone who has just announced that he is going
to be running for governor on the Democratic ticket, looking
for the Democratic nomination in Florida. He is a familiar name,
particularly if you reside in the Tampa Bay area. David
(00:21):
Jolly was a member of Congress and represented much of
Panella's county as a Republican some years back, and since
leaving Congress he has changed his political registration from Republican
to Independent to Democrat and now he seeks the governor's
mansion in Tallahassee. And we have him on the line
(00:41):
with us. David Jolly, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hey Gordon, great to be with you today. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
All right, Well, let me start with this. Obviously, you're
no stranger to politics, and you've been, as in your
own words, a political junkie for a long time as
well as being an office holder. You left the Republican Party,
you became an independent and then Democrat, and now you're
running for governor and that's been done before and not successfully,
but you're the first too, will run with Republicans holding
(01:08):
a one million vote edge in registration over Democrats in
the state. And there may also be an independent candidate
for governor who has been quoted as saying the Democratic
Party is dead. Can you start by telling me why
running for governor in Florida as a Democrat isn't a
lost cause out of the gate.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So look, my personal journey, I think is a strength,
not a weakness. And I would also say I'm a
different candidate. This is a different cycle, this is a
different race. My journey was one over ten years where
shore as a Republican, I was called a Bush forty
one Republican. When I was in Congress, I supported marriage equality,
climate change, gun control, all the things Republicans didn't want
(01:47):
me to support, but I did, but Democrats didn't need me.
It spent six years as an independent. I love the
independent space. It's a really post ideological space where we
just get to attack big problems with big solutions. Fundamentally,
I think part of my discovery was that my values,
whether as a Republican, an independent, or a Democrat, my
values really haven't changed.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I look at politics this way.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Government should provide an economy that works for all people everyone.
They should actually insist on a government that provides services efficiently,
to all people, veteran seniors, invest in public education, demand
excellence in public education, provide for safe communities. Right, government
should work, the economy should grow. Government should work. But finally,
I think we need a state and a party's values
(02:33):
that lift everybody up, regardless of the color of your skin,
who you love, where you were born, who you worship,
a state that embraces everybody and lifts everybody up. So look,
that is a coalition, not just Democrats, Independence Republicans. I
think a lot of people believe in those values. Now
apply that to this cycle. Twenty six is not twenty four,
it's not twenty two. We are in the midst of
(02:55):
an affordability crisis in the state of Florida. It doesn't
matter what commune you live in, doesn't matter your walk
of life, it doesn't matter your party registration. We have
an affordability crisis in the state of Florida, driven by
a property insurance and property tax crisis. Frankly, our education
system is costing voucher families now because they were promised
Republican vouchers that aren't keeping up with the rate of inflation,
(03:18):
and their public schools have been abandoned abandoned by Republicans
in Tallahassee. I think we're in the midst of a
generational change election environment, in the midst of a historic
affordability crisis in the state of Florida. If you want
to keep that affordability crisis, I think the Republican nominee
will offer you more of the same.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I hope to offer change.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, let's start with that. Particularly with property insurance. There
have been laws changed, It's been made harder to sue
insurance companies, and we're told that companies appear to be
coming back to the state, and we're hearing conflicting information
about rates going up, rates going down. What are you
proposing to deal with the property insurance situation? To use
(03:59):
one example that's different from what's already been done or
that would seek to be done by.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Republicans, dramatically different. We need a state catastrophic fund that
removes hurricanes and natural disaster perils from the private market
and puts it into a true state fund. When I
was in Congress, I authored a national cat fund that
would aggregate perils like fires in the West, tornadoes in
the Midwest, ice and snow in the Northeast, and hurricanes
(04:25):
and storms in the southeast. Listen, I'm not afraid to
say that government has a role to step in where
private markets have failed. The property insurance market in Florida
has failed us.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It has failed.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Now, part of that's our own doing. We have not
prepared for climate change and climate science. We have not
invested in resiliency, we have not regulated around some of
the areas where we contribute to the climate changing. But
the reality is, however we got here, the private insurance
market in Florida has failed. I would ask people to
think about do you believe that property insurance rates are
(04:56):
going to go down and continue to go down?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
No, that hasn't been your experience.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The companies that are coming in are they that name
brand companies you recognize, or are they companies that are
going to be here for just a.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Couple of years.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
And then I would also suggest that if Republicans had
a chance to fix it, they would, but they're not.
They allow insurance companies to move their profits out of
state and keep their losses here. They allow insurance companies
to not cover residents but continue to make profit. That's wrong,
That is just absolutely wrong, and so we need a
big idea, we need a state cap fund, we need
(05:28):
a state catastrophic fund. Republicans won't do that in Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I will you mentioned property taxes. Of course, there's been
a lot of discussion about that as well. People have
seeing people are seeing property taxes rise because of higher
assessed values, partly because of all the growth in the state.
And there's talk about a constitutional amendment, maybe something being
on the ballot, sharing the ballot with the governor's race.
What are your thoughts on property taxes? What would you
(05:54):
do to address that?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Let me start with something as a former Republican in office.
Elected Republicans are really.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Bad at math.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
They always fail math. I like being a Democrat because
we get to accept math forray that. What Republicans are
offering in Tallahassee is short term populace relief with no
responsible administration behind. Where do we find revenue for safe
communities and good schools and roads? And so I don't
think the reflex that let's just cut property taxes is
the responsible approach. I think we can provide property tax
(06:23):
relief through a major reform package. And what do I
mean by that? Or many Floridians they will remember in
the two thousands, we were facing a property tax crisis.
It led to Save our homes. Longtime homeowners couldn't stay
in their homes, so we provided to save our homes
cap and portability. But now we have an inverted crisis.
(06:43):
New home buyers, younger home buyers, young families can't afford
to buy homes and their rent is too high because
of the property insurance that gets passed to them. So
I think we need actually a generational property tax reform package.
How do we keep save our homes while lowering the
cost of vent for first time home buyers.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
That's just math, that's just math.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
How do we determine how we drive revenue from property
taxes that allow for services, but we provide relief for
first time home buyers like we have for the save
our homes population.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I think we can do that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
That's not easy, right, A lot of politicians will say,
all change things on day one. Now, you can't do
that if you're honest and sober about our revenue needs.
But we can say we are going to create a
property tax reform package that ultimately can be put in
front of voters for voters to choose if they want
to go in that direction Tallahassee. I'm afraid if they
have their way, we'll create an economic crisis in the
(07:36):
state of Florida, not just an affordability crisis, an economic
crisis because they will irresponsibly look to cut taxes without
having any idea about how we replace the revenue.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
You mentioned education first, we'll take on K twelve. There's
obviously a lot of concern about public school funding. There's
concerned about school vouchers. School vouchers seem to enjoy a
fear amount of popularity in Florida with parents as well
as politicians. What do you want to affect or change
about current K twelve education policy in Florida.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
This is a lived experience for my wife and I.
We have two young kids, six and four. Republican school
choice in Florida is a false choice because they have
abandoned public schools. We have excellence in our public schools
only through the sheer will and determination of our teachers
and administrators, not because Tallahassee is invested in them. We
have to be a state that lifts up and celebrates
(08:30):
public education, that says we need the greatest public education
system in the world. Our public schools should be able
to outcompete our private schools.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Republicans aren't doing that. I will.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
But then let's move to the voucher system. A lot
of Democrats would say kill the voucher system. That's not
my position. Maybe it makes me a little bit of
a different Democrat choices here, but I think what we
need to do is look at what are the requirements
of schools that accept vouchers. First, if you accept the voucher,
that's to cover the tuition. We should at least cap
the rate of two inflation at those schools. Because Gordon,
(09:02):
in the first year of universal vouchers, Republicans admitted this
is no longer about providing just for families and needs.
This is about moving money to private schools. Seventy percent
of first year recipients of vouchers under universal vouchers were
already in private schools. They didn't need the vouchers to
be there. And what happened is the schools raise the tuition,
so now the state's paying them, but the families are
(09:23):
having to pay them as well. That's a broken promise
from Republicans. But most importantly, voucher schools don't have to
provide the same services. If you have a first grader
who can't read in public school, they get an IP,
the school invests in them. In a private school, you
get kicked out, you get held back, but there's no
requirement for an IP. So let's make private schools that
receive vouchers use the same rules and standards that our
(09:45):
public schools do. My approach is to say, look, public
and private schools can be education partners of Florida families,
but if they're receiving public dollars, they should have to
abide by the same set of rules. That's not an
attack on the voucher program. That improves the voucher program.
It also starts with investing more resources in public schools.
So that are public schools who still today provide the
(10:06):
greatest access to academic excellence, the arts, the trades, far
more than our private schools. First, we lift them up,
invest in them and return excellence, and we celebrate public
schools in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Leadership in Tallahassee has pointed to the state university system
as one of our points of pride as it rises
in the rankings. Certainly, the University of Florida has risen
in rankings. It is certainly an affordable system. We've also
seen a number of policy changes in the state university
system in recent years and a lot of controversies, the
most recent being the decision just the day before we
(10:40):
spoke by the Board of Governors not to hire nominee
Santa Ono as a University of Florida president. What are
your thloughts about the university system in Florida.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, so let's start with a practical issue.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
We do have incredible universities in the Florida system and
they are affordable, but too many Florida kids who are
qualified can't access our flagship universities. Florida and Florida State
need to do better. The rules need to give preferential
treatment to qualify Florida students to access our universities, our
flagship universities. If you look like states, look at states
(11:13):
like Virginia, Carolina, they give preference to home state students.
It's hard to get into those universities as an out
of state student.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I think in Florida we've gotten it wrong.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We make it easier for out of state students to
get into our flagship schools, and I think we need
to fix that. But here's my greatest concern about the
direction of our universities. We know under this governor that
the presidencies have ended up being landing spots of retired politicians.
I think that's wrong. We've seen the governor attack diversity
of thought. We've seen the governor attack true academic in
(11:44):
richness in our universities, and I think in the culture wars,
he has actually dampened the ability of our state university
systems to reflect true excellence in academics. Look, I say
this from our primary schools to our universities. I want
our children to have access to a great diversity of thought,
to a richness of education, diversity of cultures. That's a
(12:07):
good thing that makes our students in Florida stronger, smarter,
better people, more empathetic, and when they reach the age
of majority and choose their lives, they'll be more empowered
to choose what they think is right for them. I'm
afraid we've seen a war on true academics. I think
the first thing a democratic governor can do in Florida
is review all of Ronda Santis's appointees to our state
(12:28):
university systems, our water boards, the public Services Commission and say,
do we have experts who understand the field in our universities.
Do we have experts in our water district boards, our
utility systems who actually are regulating on behalf of clean
water and clean air, and who are regulating on behalf
of responsible controlled growth, lower utilities.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Cleaner energies.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Or have we appointed ideologues in our universities and in
our regulatory authorities that are representing an agenda and not
the people they should be serving. I think the governor's
gotten wrong, and I would hope to fix it.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Until this year, there hasn't been very much in the
way of open conflict between the current governor and the legislature.
And if you are elected as a Democrat, and assuming
the legislature remains Republican, that could change. How would you
deal as a Democrat as an elected governor with a
legislature that is likely to continue to be republican, or
(13:22):
if it ends up republican, how would you deal with
that and seek to govern across the divide.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
That's a fair question that requires us to look around
the corner a little bit. If a coalition of voters
forget about a Democratic candidate, if a coalition of voters
across Florida in twenty six demand change, Demand big solutions
to our affordability crisis. Demand that we reinvest in public schools.
Demand that we fight crime, but not communities that were
honest about fighting crime instead of just punching down at communities.
(13:52):
If that coalition demands change in twenty six, then Republicans
in Tallahassee will have to answer to them, not to
a Democratic governor. Then we've set the agenda for what
our state's priorities are, and then Republicans will have to ask,
We'll have to answer to why they want to stand
in the way. But also say this, as Democrats, we
need to be willing to work with Republicans. Where Republicans
(14:13):
have good ideas, let's embrace them. When the Senate President
wants to invest two hundred million dollars in a rural
renaissance in Florida, providing education, healthcare, transportation to our most
disadvantage counties, we need to say yes, let's make it
three hundred million. And I say that is if I
were a Democratic governor, If I have an ally that
wants to help reduce property and turns through cap fund,
(14:35):
wants to help respond to a natural disaster across the state.
Whether it's a Republican president or a Republican legislator, I'm
going to ask to work with them, and I think
we have to be confident in doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
We've heard a word a lot in recent years, maybe
more so than in the past, preemption, where Tallahasse takes
over or overrides local ordinances, issues such as heat protections
for workers, or wages paid to local government contractors, or
on development or even things like requiring a construction crane
to be tied down during a hurricane. What are your
(15:06):
thoughts on local government versus state government and how that
relationship should play out.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
You know, it sounds Republican to me, but I think
government is best closest to the people, and I think
Republicans in Tallahassee have attacked direct democracy through the amendment process,
through preemption, frankly through gerry mandering and other electoral reforms
that create hurdles to voting. But if a community votes
for something, then they should be able to determine their
own rules. And it brings in some other issues, which
(15:33):
are campaign finance reforms that are needed. When US voter said,
we don't want large ships, and they did it by
the ballot, and Ron de Santus says, too bad, We're
going to let him. And then he takes a million
dollar check from the cruise lines. That's corruption. How to
legalized corruption. He didn't break the law, but we should
change the law. And so I think we need to
stop with preemption. We need to let voters closest to
(15:54):
their communities determine what they want. But I would also
say this when we look at state ballot initiatives. If
more than fifty percent of the state wants to go
in a direction, whether it's reproductive freedom or recreational marijuana,
I think the governor and the legislature should honor that
and enact that into law, not hide behind a constitutional requirement,
but actually fight for the will of the people. I
don't think we're seeing that from Republican It disappoints me,
(16:17):
and all I can do is offer a contrast an alternative.
If I'm the governor, we're going to respect local control
of local communities. As evidence by the ballots, We're going
to recognize it. More than fifty percent of the state
wants something, We're going to fight for it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I'll give you thirty seconds to kind of wrap and
you can take a little more of it if you
wish to kind of wrap up your point, your case
that you're making to be governor.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
We are in the midst of an affordability crisis in
the state of Florida, and I think voters, regardless of party,
want change.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
If we are in a change cycle.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Next November, the Republican nominee is going to offer more
of the same. We have an opportunity to fight the
affordability crisis, restore dignity and respect to everyone across the state,
to invest in public education. That's what real change looks like.
I'mer twenty twenty six. We can do it. I need
voters to believe we can. I do today.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Former US Representative David Jolly, who is now announced that
he is running for the nomination for governor of the
Florida Democratic Party. David Jolly, thank you very much for
joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Thank you, Gordon. Good to be with you.
Gordon Bird here beyond the news. We're recording this interview
with someone who has just announced that he is going
to be running for governor on the Democratic ticket, looking
for the Democratic nomination in Florida. He is a familiar name,
particularly if you reside in the Tampa Bay area. David
(00:21):
Jolly was a member of Congress and represented much of
Panella's county as a Republican some years back, and since
leaving Congress he has changed his political registration from Republican
to Independent to Democrat and now he seeks the governor's
mansion in Tallahassee. And we have him on the line
(00:41):
with us. David Jolly, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hey Gordon, great to be with you today. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
All right, Well, let me start with this. Obviously, you're
no stranger to politics, and you've been, as in your
own words, a political junkie for a long time as
well as being an office holder. You left the Republican Party,
you became an independent and then Democrat, and now you're
running for governor and that's been done before and not successfully,
but you're the first too, will run with Republicans holding
(01:08):
a one million vote edge in registration over Democrats in
the state. And there may also be an independent candidate
for governor who has been quoted as saying the Democratic
Party is dead. Can you start by telling me why
running for governor in Florida as a Democrat isn't a
lost cause out of the gate.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So look, my personal journey, I think is a strength,
not a weakness. And I would also say I'm a
different candidate. This is a different cycle, this is a
different race. My journey was one over ten years where
shore as a Republican, I was called a Bush forty
one Republican. When I was in Congress, I supported marriage equality,
climate change, gun control, all the things Republicans didn't want
(01:47):
me to support, but I did, but Democrats didn't need me.
It spent six years as an independent. I love the
independent space. It's a really post ideological space where we
just get to attack big problems with big solutions. Fundamentally,
I think part of my discovery was that my values,
whether as a Republican, an independent, or a Democrat, my
values really haven't changed.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I look at politics this way.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Government should provide an economy that works for all people everyone.
They should actually insist on a government that provides services efficiently,
to all people, veteran seniors, invest in public education, demand
excellence in public education, provide for safe communities. Right, government
should work, the economy should grow. Government should work. But finally,
I think we need a state and a party's values
(02:33):
that lift everybody up, regardless of the color of your skin,
who you love, where you were born, who you worship,
a state that embraces everybody and lifts everybody up. So look,
that is a coalition, not just Democrats, Independence Republicans. I
think a lot of people believe in those values. Now
apply that to this cycle. Twenty six is not twenty four,
it's not twenty two. We are in the midst of
(02:55):
an affordability crisis in the state of Florida. It doesn't
matter what commune you live in, doesn't matter your walk
of life, it doesn't matter your party registration. We have
an affordability crisis in the state of Florida, driven by
a property insurance and property tax crisis. Frankly, our education
system is costing voucher families now because they were promised
Republican vouchers that aren't keeping up with the rate of inflation,
(03:18):
and their public schools have been abandoned abandoned by Republicans
in Tallahassee. I think we're in the midst of a
generational change election environment, in the midst of a historic
affordability crisis in the state of Florida. If you want
to keep that affordability crisis, I think the Republican nominee
will offer you more of the same.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I hope to offer change.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, let's start with that. Particularly with property insurance. There
have been laws changed, It's been made harder to sue
insurance companies, and we're told that companies appear to be
coming back to the state, and we're hearing conflicting information
about rates going up, rates going down. What are you
proposing to deal with the property insurance situation? To use
(03:59):
one example that's different from what's already been done or
that would seek to be done by.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Republicans, dramatically different. We need a state catastrophic fund that
removes hurricanes and natural disaster perils from the private market
and puts it into a true state fund. When I
was in Congress, I authored a national cat fund that
would aggregate perils like fires in the West, tornadoes in
the Midwest, ice and snow in the Northeast, and hurricanes
(04:25):
and storms in the southeast. Listen, I'm not afraid to
say that government has a role to step in where
private markets have failed. The property insurance market in Florida
has failed us.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It has failed.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Now, part of that's our own doing. We have not
prepared for climate change and climate science. We have not
invested in resiliency, we have not regulated around some of
the areas where we contribute to the climate changing. But
the reality is, however we got here, the private insurance
market in Florida has failed. I would ask people to
think about do you believe that property insurance rates are
(04:56):
going to go down and continue to go down?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
No, that hasn't been your experience.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The companies that are coming in are they that name
brand companies you recognize, or are they companies that are
going to be here for just a.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Couple of years.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
And then I would also suggest that if Republicans had
a chance to fix it, they would, but they're not.
They allow insurance companies to move their profits out of
state and keep their losses here. They allow insurance companies
to not cover residents but continue to make profit. That's wrong,
That is just absolutely wrong, and so we need a
big idea, we need a state cap fund, we need
(05:28):
a state catastrophic fund. Republicans won't do that in Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I will you mentioned property taxes. Of course, there's been
a lot of discussion about that as well. People have
seeing people are seeing property taxes rise because of higher
assessed values, partly because of all the growth in the state.
And there's talk about a constitutional amendment, maybe something being
on the ballot, sharing the ballot with the governor's race.
What are your thoughts on property taxes? What would you
(05:54):
do to address that?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Let me start with something as a former Republican in office.
Elected Republicans are really.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Bad at math.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
They always fail math. I like being a Democrat because
we get to accept math forray that. What Republicans are
offering in Tallahassee is short term populace relief with no
responsible administration behind. Where do we find revenue for safe
communities and good schools and roads? And so I don't
think the reflex that let's just cut property taxes is
the responsible approach. I think we can provide property tax
(06:23):
relief through a major reform package. And what do I
mean by that? Or many Floridians they will remember in
the two thousands, we were facing a property tax crisis.
It led to Save our homes. Longtime homeowners couldn't stay
in their homes, so we provided to save our homes
cap and portability. But now we have an inverted crisis.
(06:43):
New home buyers, younger home buyers, young families can't afford
to buy homes and their rent is too high because
of the property insurance that gets passed to them. So
I think we need actually a generational property tax reform package.
How do we keep save our homes while lowering the
cost of vent for first time home buyers.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
That's just math, that's just math.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
How do we determine how we drive revenue from property
taxes that allow for services, but we provide relief for
first time home buyers like we have for the save
our homes population.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I think we can do that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
That's not easy, right, A lot of politicians will say,
all change things on day one. Now, you can't do
that if you're honest and sober about our revenue needs.
But we can say we are going to create a
property tax reform package that ultimately can be put in
front of voters for voters to choose if they want
to go in that direction Tallahassee. I'm afraid if they
have their way, we'll create an economic crisis in the
(07:36):
state of Florida, not just an affordability crisis, an economic
crisis because they will irresponsibly look to cut taxes without
having any idea about how we replace the revenue.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
You mentioned education first, we'll take on K twelve. There's
obviously a lot of concern about public school funding. There's
concerned about school vouchers. School vouchers seem to enjoy a
fear amount of popularity in Florida with parents as well
as politicians. What do you want to affect or change
about current K twelve education policy in Florida.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
This is a lived experience for my wife and I.
We have two young kids, six and four. Republican school
choice in Florida is a false choice because they have
abandoned public schools. We have excellence in our public schools
only through the sheer will and determination of our teachers
and administrators, not because Tallahassee is invested in them. We
have to be a state that lifts up and celebrates
(08:30):
public education, that says we need the greatest public education
system in the world. Our public schools should be able
to outcompete our private schools.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Republicans aren't doing that. I will.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
But then let's move to the voucher system. A lot
of Democrats would say kill the voucher system. That's not
my position. Maybe it makes me a little bit of
a different Democrat choices here, but I think what we
need to do is look at what are the requirements
of schools that accept vouchers. First, if you accept the voucher,
that's to cover the tuition. We should at least cap
the rate of two inflation at those schools. Because Gordon,
(09:02):
in the first year of universal vouchers, Republicans admitted this
is no longer about providing just for families and needs.
This is about moving money to private schools. Seventy percent
of first year recipients of vouchers under universal vouchers were
already in private schools. They didn't need the vouchers to
be there. And what happened is the schools raise the tuition,
so now the state's paying them, but the families are
(09:23):
having to pay them as well. That's a broken promise
from Republicans. But most importantly, voucher schools don't have to
provide the same services. If you have a first grader
who can't read in public school, they get an IP,
the school invests in them. In a private school, you
get kicked out, you get held back, but there's no
requirement for an IP. So let's make private schools that
receive vouchers use the same rules and standards that our
(09:45):
public schools do. My approach is to say, look, public
and private schools can be education partners of Florida families,
but if they're receiving public dollars, they should have to
abide by the same set of rules. That's not an
attack on the voucher program. That improves the voucher program.
It also starts with investing more resources in public schools.
So that are public schools who still today provide the
(10:06):
greatest access to academic excellence, the arts, the trades, far
more than our private schools. First, we lift them up,
invest in them and return excellence, and we celebrate public
schools in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Leadership in Tallahassee has pointed to the state university system
as one of our points of pride as it rises
in the rankings. Certainly, the University of Florida has risen
in rankings. It is certainly an affordable system. We've also
seen a number of policy changes in the state university
system in recent years and a lot of controversies, the
most recent being the decision just the day before we
(10:40):
spoke by the Board of Governors not to hire nominee
Santa Ono as a University of Florida president. What are
your thloughts about the university system in Florida.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, so let's start with a practical issue.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
We do have incredible universities in the Florida system and
they are affordable, but too many Florida kids who are
qualified can't access our flagship universities. Florida and Florida State
need to do better. The rules need to give preferential
treatment to qualify Florida students to access our universities, our
flagship universities. If you look like states, look at states
(11:13):
like Virginia, Carolina, they give preference to home state students.
It's hard to get into those universities as an out
of state student.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I think in Florida we've gotten it wrong.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We make it easier for out of state students to
get into our flagship schools, and I think we need
to fix that. But here's my greatest concern about the
direction of our universities. We know under this governor that
the presidencies have ended up being landing spots of retired politicians.
I think that's wrong. We've seen the governor attack diversity
of thought. We've seen the governor attack true academic in
(11:44):
richness in our universities, and I think in the culture wars,
he has actually dampened the ability of our state university
systems to reflect true excellence in academics. Look, I say
this from our primary schools to our universities. I want
our children to have access to a great diversity of thought,
to a richness of education, diversity of cultures. That's a
(12:07):
good thing that makes our students in Florida stronger, smarter,
better people, more empathetic, and when they reach the age
of majority and choose their lives, they'll be more empowered
to choose what they think is right for them. I'm
afraid we've seen a war on true academics. I think
the first thing a democratic governor can do in Florida
is review all of Ronda Santis's appointees to our state
(12:28):
university systems, our water boards, the public Services Commission and say,
do we have experts who understand the field in our universities.
Do we have experts in our water district boards, our
utility systems who actually are regulating on behalf of clean
water and clean air, and who are regulating on behalf
of responsible controlled growth, lower utilities.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Cleaner energies.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Or have we appointed ideologues in our universities and in
our regulatory authorities that are representing an agenda and not
the people they should be serving. I think the governor's
gotten wrong, and I would hope to fix it.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Until this year, there hasn't been very much in the
way of open conflict between the current governor and the legislature.
And if you are elected as a Democrat, and assuming
the legislature remains Republican, that could change. How would you
deal as a Democrat as an elected governor with a
legislature that is likely to continue to be republican, or
(13:22):
if it ends up republican, how would you deal with
that and seek to govern across the divide.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
That's a fair question that requires us to look around
the corner a little bit. If a coalition of voters
forget about a Democratic candidate, if a coalition of voters
across Florida in twenty six demand change, Demand big solutions
to our affordability crisis. Demand that we reinvest in public schools.
Demand that we fight crime, but not communities that were
honest about fighting crime instead of just punching down at communities.
(13:52):
If that coalition demands change in twenty six, then Republicans
in Tallahassee will have to answer to them, not to
a Democratic governor. Then we've set the agenda for what
our state's priorities are, and then Republicans will have to ask,
We'll have to answer to why they want to stand
in the way. But also say this, as Democrats, we
need to be willing to work with Republicans. Where Republicans
(14:13):
have good ideas, let's embrace them. When the Senate President
wants to invest two hundred million dollars in a rural
renaissance in Florida, providing education, healthcare, transportation to our most
disadvantage counties, we need to say yes, let's make it
three hundred million. And I say that is if I
were a Democratic governor, If I have an ally that
wants to help reduce property and turns through cap fund,
(14:35):
wants to help respond to a natural disaster across the state.
Whether it's a Republican president or a Republican legislator, I'm
going to ask to work with them, and I think
we have to be confident in doing that.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
We've heard a word a lot in recent years, maybe
more so than in the past, preemption, where Tallahasse takes
over or overrides local ordinances, issues such as heat protections
for workers, or wages paid to local government contractors, or
on development or even things like requiring a construction crane
to be tied down during a hurricane. What are your
(15:06):
thoughts on local government versus state government and how that
relationship should play out.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
You know, it sounds Republican to me, but I think
government is best closest to the people, and I think
Republicans in Tallahassee have attacked direct democracy through the amendment process,
through preemption, frankly through gerry mandering and other electoral reforms
that create hurdles to voting. But if a community votes
for something, then they should be able to determine their
own rules. And it brings in some other issues, which
(15:33):
are campaign finance reforms that are needed. When US voter said,
we don't want large ships, and they did it by
the ballot, and Ron de Santus says, too bad, We're
going to let him. And then he takes a million
dollar check from the cruise lines. That's corruption. How to
legalized corruption. He didn't break the law, but we should
change the law. And so I think we need to
stop with preemption. We need to let voters closest to
(15:54):
their communities determine what they want. But I would also
say this when we look at state ballot initiatives. If
more than fifty percent of the state wants to go
in a direction, whether it's reproductive freedom or recreational marijuana,
I think the governor and the legislature should honor that
and enact that into law, not hide behind a constitutional requirement,
but actually fight for the will of the people. I
don't think we're seeing that from Republican It disappoints me,
(16:17):
and all I can do is offer a contrast an alternative.
If I'm the governor, we're going to respect local control
of local communities. As evidence by the ballots, We're going
to recognize it. More than fifty percent of the state
wants something, We're going to fight for it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I'll give you thirty seconds to kind of wrap and
you can take a little more of it if you
wish to kind of wrap up your point, your case
that you're making to be governor.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
We are in the midst of an affordability crisis in
the state of Florida, and I think voters, regardless of party,
want change.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
If we are in a change cycle.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Next November, the Republican nominee is going to offer more
of the same. We have an opportunity to fight the
affordability crisis, restore dignity and respect to everyone across the state,
to invest in public education. That's what real change looks like.
I'mer twenty twenty six. We can do it. I need
voters to believe we can. I do today.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Former US Representative David Jolly, who is now announced that
he is running for the nomination for governor of the
Florida Democratic Party. David Jolly, thank you very much for
joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Thank you, Gordon. Good to be with you.
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