Jolly Targets Black Voters as Florida Governor Race Tightens

Florida's gubernatorial contest is putting Black voters at the center of both parties' political strategies, as Democrat David Jolly seeks support from undecided voters and Republican Byron Donalds faces questions about his party's outreach to Black communities. The candidates are competing to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, with the election scheduled for November.

In an October 13 report, the Tampa Bay Times highlighted Jolly's efforts to reach Black voters who have yet to decide which candidate to support. Jolly said this constituency could determine the outcome of the Florida governor's race.

The contest comes as Republican strategists and officials acknowledge a decline in nationwide efforts to retain Black voters who supported President Donald Trump in 2024. According to Pew Research data cited by Raw Story, Trump won 15% of Black voters nationally and 21% of Black men that year.

With less than four weeks remaining before Election Day, nearly a dozen Republican strategists, lawmakers and local officials told The Washington Sun that the party's efforts to court Black voters had contracted since 2024, according to a report published by Raw Story on October 13.

One Republican operative described the party's immediate electoral concerns as extending beyond its relationship with Black voters.

“I don’t think the expectation is that we’re gonna have a large amount of Black folks coming out to support us because we can’t even get the white folks to support us,” the operative told The Washington Sun.

The Frederick Douglass Freedom Alliance also sought to expand Republican outreach. According to three people familiar with discussions, the organization proposed a canvassing and messaging strategy to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee in the spring, targeting Black voters in about five midterm races. Both committees declined the proposal, while individual campaigns also rejected or ignored similar offers from other Black grassroots organizations.

Troy Rolling, president and CEO of the Frederick Douglass Freedom Alliance, argued that the party should continue investing in direct engagement with minority communities.

“President Trump’s 2024 strategy proved intentional, relationship driven engagement in black and brown communities works,” Troy Rolling, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Now, the Republican Party needs to trust that model, invest in it, and stick with it.”

Economic concerns have also become a point of contention within Republican circles. A prominent Black Republican strategist said the administration had failed to deliver tangible improvements on the economic issues that attracted Black men to Trump in 2024.

“So Black men are looking at us, and they’re saying, ‘Nothing really changed for me. There’s not a damn thing I can point to as tangible to say my life has gotten better,’” the strategist said.

Data cited in the Raw Story report showed that the Black unemployment rate had risen by one percentage point over the previous year to 7%, nearly twice the rate for white workers. The report also noted that the White House made little public mention of nearly $175 million in new funding for historically Black colleges announced by the Education Department in September. People familiar with the matter said officials were concerned about appearing to promote diversity, equity and inclusion before the midterms.

Donalds, a Republican U.S. representative running for Florida governor, has independently spent seven figures courting Black voters. He acknowledged that some Republicans struggle to connect with this constituency, while suggesting the problem was not necessarily a lack of willingness.

“I think a lot of the party doesn’t know how, and I don’t think it’s that they don’t want to,” Donalds said. “I just think they don’t know how.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee maintained that Republicans were working to rebuild relationships with Black voters. Its spokesperson, Mike Marinella, said Democrats had taken too many voters for granted, while another Black Republican strategist questioned the effectiveness of the party's efforts.

“You know how you buy some stuff, put it in the garage and forget that it’s there? That’s where the effort is at,” that strategist said.