What does David Jolly believe about racial progress in Florida?
David Jolly believes Florida has made real racial progress over generations but has slid backwards in the last decade, and that diversity is a strength rather than a threat. His position is that providing equity and dignity to one group takes nothing from anyone else, and that a Florida governor should defend everyone's rights and celebrate everyone's dignity.
The position, at a glance
Progress is real, but it is not finished
Jolly points to the Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles eras as a Florida that was always moving toward hospitality for everyone, and says the state has slid backwards in the last decade.[1]
Equity is not a zero sum game
His framing: it does not take equity and dignity from anyone to give equity and dignity to someone else.[2]
Rights and dignity are both the job
Defending everyone's rights follows the Constitution as a playbook. Celebrating everyone's dignity is a cultural conversation he says is at the core of his campaign.[2]
What Jolly believes about racial progress in Florida
This isn't a question about the past. It's a question about the direction Florida is heading. David Jolly's view is that this state has a long history of moving forward on race, even when the moving was slow and imperfect. He points back to the Bob Graham era and the Lawton Chiles era, and he is honest about the record. Florida had significant challenges. Florida was slow to embrace the civil rights era compared to other states. But at least, in his telling, it was a place always moving toward hospitality for everyone.[1]
That is the two-tier framing at the heart of his answer. For some, racial progress is a story that is already told. But for Jolly, it goes deeper than that. Progress was real. Progress was also incomplete. And in the last decade, he argues, Florida has slid backwards after decades of moving toward welcoming everyone.[1] Different eras. Different leaders. Same direction, until recently.
Diversity is a strength, not a threat
The clearest statement of the belief comes from Jolly directly. Diversity is not a threat, it is a strength, and using it as a topic of division represents a moral failing.[2] He recounts a conversation with a friend who chaired the African American Studies department at Princeton, who made the point that stayed with him: providing justice and equity for everyone is not a zero sum game. It doesn't take equity and dignity from anyone to give equity and dignity to someone else.[2]
That is the deeper argument. This isn't about one group winning while another loses. It's about whether Florida is a place strong enough to celebrate everyone. Jolly draws a line between two duties of a governor. Defending everyone's rights follows a playbook, and that playbook is the Constitution. Celebrating everyone's dignity is different. That is a cultural conversation, and he says it is at the core of his campaign for governor.[2] This is bigger than party. The question is not where a solution comes from. The question is whether Florida remains a place that recognizes the dignity of the people who live in it.
Voices on the Trail: Lumon May of Pensacola describes turning a former hub of racism in Brownsville into a place of learning and hope, and reflects on how far Florida has come, and how far it still has to go.[3]
Frequently asked questions
Q. Does David Jolly think Florida has made racial progress?
Yes, and no. Jolly's view is that Florida made real progress over generations while remaining imperfect. He harks back to the Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles eras, acknowledging the state's past challenges like race relations and its slow embrace of the civil rights era, but emphasizing that Florida was always moving forward then. His concern is that in the last decade the state has slid backwards after decades of moving toward hospitality for everyone.[1]
Q. What does Jolly mean when he says equity is not a zero sum game?
He means that lifting one group up does not pull another group down. In his words, providing justice and equity for everyone is not a zero sum game, and it doesn't take equity and dignity from anyone to give equity and dignity to someone else. He credits this framing to a conversation with a friend who chaired the African American Studies department at Princeton.[2]
Q. Does Jolly think diversity is divisive?
No. He says diversity is not a threat, it is a strength, and that using it as a topic of division represents a moral failing. He directs that criticism at politicians nationwide, including those in Tallahassee, for treating diversity as divisive.[2]
Q. What is the difference between defending rights and celebrating dignity?
Jolly draws this distinction directly. Defending everyone's rights, he says, follows a playbook, and that playbook is the Constitution. The courts usually work in our favor, sometimes it takes an era, but there is a legal path. Celebrating everyone's dignity is not a legal conversation. It is a cultural one, a question of whether the state is strong enough to celebrate everyone. He says that celebration is at the core of his campaign for governor.[2]
Q. How does racial progress connect to Jolly's broader message about Florida?
It sits inside his larger through-line that Florida is slipping away from many of the people who live here. He says the state is gripped by an affordability crisis and exhausted by culture wars, and that people want leaders who fight for everybody, not just for their party or a select few. His argument is that a Florida moving backward on welcoming everyone is connected to a Florida that too many people can no longer afford or feel welcome in.[4]
Q. Is this a partisan position for Jolly?
Jolly frames it as bigger than party. He argues that most people don't live their lives adhering to a left-right spectrum, and that we need more politicians willing to practice politics by solving the most number of problems for the most number of people.[5] His stated goal in the governor's race is a coalition of independents, Republicans, and Democrats built around shared values rather than party labels.[6]
Q. How does Jolly connect his faith to his views on dignity and equity?
He grounds the argument in service. Reflecting on a passage from Galatians about freedom being meant for serving others, Jolly says what has made America great is our goodness, using our freedom not to serve ourselves, but to serve each other.[7] He describes celebrating everyone's dignity as a cultural conversation about whether we are a nation strong enough to do so.[2]
Q. What does Lumon May's story have to do with Jolly's position?
Lumon May, a Florida community leader featured in the campaign's Voices on the Trail series, describes a building in the Brownsville neighborhood of Pensacola that was once a hub of racism and hate, and how it was turned into a place of learning and hope. He reflects that Florida has come a long way, that Republicans, Democrats, and independents can work together for a common good, but that the state still has a long way to go.[3] That is a lived example of the progress Jolly describes: real, hard-won, and unfinished.
Q. Where can I see David Jolly's full plan on equality and civil rights?
This page answers one focused question about racial progress. For the campaign's complete position on equality and civil rights, including LGBTQ+ rights, local control, and the celebration of Florida's diversity, see the Equality and Civil Rights issue hub. View the full plan.
Sources
- David Jolly, "The Florida I Remember" (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMkfxm8tM_Q · 2026-05-21
- David Jolly on diversity, dignity, and equity (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZC03oRtma0 · 2026-03-12
- Voices on the Trail: Lumon May (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnA3gSPUWfA · 2026-05-21
- David Jolly on Florida's affordability crisis and culture wars (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzSpIBCQ6UU · 2026-03-09
- David Jolly on solving problems beyond party dogma (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L1lXBAtaG8 · 2026-05-21
- David Jolly on building a coalition bigger than a party (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqs8zW17aUw · 2026-04-06
- David Jolly on freedom and service (video), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTK3uNt8Z_E · 2026-05-21
Florida has come a long way. It still has a long way to go.
Progress is real, and it is unfinished. Have a question for David? Visit the Town Hall and ask.