Gubernatorial candidate David Jolly was endorsed Thursday by long list of current and former elected Broward Democrats.
The Jolly supporters include four county commissioners, two school board members, five state legislators, two mayors and four city commissioners and a long list of former elected officials and Democratic Party leaders.
“This coalition sends a clear message: David Jolly is the candidate who can energize Democrats, appeal to independents and common sense Republicans, and deliver real solutions to Florida’s affordability crisis,” Broward Mayor Beam Furr said in a written statement.
Broward, the second most populous county in the state, has lost some of its political swagger in recent years as Florida has become more Republican and the Democrats have had difficulties mobilizing their registered voters to show up at the polls.
Still, Broward is a home to an enormous number of Democrats who could determine the outcome of the August 2026 primary for governor. Any Democratic candidate for statewide office faces a tough climb next year — since 2002, Republicans have won 32 statewide elections and Democrats have won six.
A Democratic nominee has no hope of winning a statewide general election without running up a large advantage in Broward to help overcome more Republican parts of the state. “Winning statewide in Florida requires winning big in Broward,” Furr said.
Jolly agreed. “Broward County is vital for any Democratic path to victory in Florida,” he said in a statement..
The endorsements from the Democrats, who collectively have won dozens of elections, provide validation for Jolly, who once was a Republican member of Congress from Tampa Bay. He lost his bid for reelection in 2016.
In 2018 he left the Republican Party. After years as a no party affiliation/independent voter, he became a registered Democrat in April.
Steve Geller, a Broward County commissioner and former Florida Senate Democratic leader, sits second from left in the front row of a town hall held by David Jolly at United Methodist Church in Plantation on April 30, 2025. Geller introduced Jolly at the event. (Jim Rassol/Contributor)
Endorsers include County Commissioners Furr, Nan Rich, Lamar Fisher and Steve Geller; School Board members Maura Bulman and Nora Rupert; state Sen. Tina Polsky; state Reps. Dan Daley, Mitch Rosenwald, Michael Gottlieb, and Robin Bartleman; Mayors Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale and Angelo Castillo of Pembroke Pines; and Commissioners Steve Glassman and Ben Sorensen of Fort Lauderdale and Caryl Shuham and Idelma Quintana of Hollywood.
Another 20 former elected officials also endorsed Jolly, as did former Broward Democratic Party Chairs Mitch Ceasar and Cynthia Busch.
Jolly’s campaign chair is Mitchell Berger, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and prominent Democrat.
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“I’m grateful to have the support of so many leaders who have dedicated their lives to public service. Together, we’re building the coalition needed to solve the affordability and insurance crisis, defend our public schools, and restore common sense in state government,” Jolly said.
Jolly’s endorsers don’t include top elected Black Broward Democrats. The political world is waiting to see whether Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings enters the primary.
Demings became his county’s first Black mayor in 2018, after serving as its first Black sheriff and Orlando’s first Black police chief. Unlike Broward and Palm Beach counties, where county commissioners elect one of their own to serve a term as county mayor, the Orange County mayor is elected by voters.
Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
