The post Byron Donalds casts David Jolly as a ‘Trojan Horse’ in Homeric riff at Pasco GOP dinner appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
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Byron Donalds is betting the GOP faithful watched Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey,.”
Speaking Friday night at the Republican Party of Pasco County’s Reagan Day Dinner at Spartan Manor in New Port Richey, the Congressman from Naples told the crowd he’d seen “The Odyssey“ with his son, then reached back to Homer to size up his likely General Election opponent.
“David Jolly is the Trojan Horse,” Donalds said.
“He is going to crisscross the state,” Donalds added. “He’s going to be very nice and very kind.”
He went on to mock Jolly’s expected presentation.
“‘And I just want you to know that we believe in the same values. We believe in the values of Florida. Don’t you believe in that? Because I believe in that, too,’” he said, before dropping the impersonation.
“This is what you’re going to see from David Jolly. You’re gonna see soft-spoken, fluffy words. No details. Promising it’s going to be okay. But what you have is somebody who didn’t even have enough courage, in his own convictions, to stand by the policies and the values that he worked under when he worked for former Congressman Bill Young. You’re looking at somebody who is a climber, who is a car salesman, because he believes that it’s his time.”
Jolly’s Republican résumé runs through Bill Young‘s Pinellas County office, where he worked as an aide and general counsel before winning a 2014 Special Election to succeed his old boss after Young’s death. Charlie Crist took the seat from him in 2016. Jolly quit the party in 2018 and launched his Democratic campaign for Governor in June 2025. His opposition in the Aug. 18 Primary is nominal.
Donalds has said repeatedly that Jolly would use “boring” speech to mask a radical agenda, as he attempts to unite Republican voters and stop people, particularly supporters of candidates likely to lose in next month’s gubernatorial Primary, from defecting to the Democratic side.
The Naples Republican is already running a General Election campaign. With Donald Trump’s endorsement in hand, he led Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, investor James Fishback and former House Speaker Paul Renner by 46 points in a June Associated Industries of Florida poll. November looks closer. A University of North Florida survey this month put Donalds slightly ahead of Jolly, weeks after a Change Research poll showed the Democrat leading.
The post Byron Donalds casts David Jolly as a ‘Trojan Horse’ in Homeric riff at Pasco GOP dinner appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
