David Jolly, Florida’s Democrat nominee for governor, once met with Cuban government officials to help bring a consulate of the communist regime to St. Petersburg. That revelation is drawing renewed scrutiny as he campaigns against Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
Jolly was a Republican congressman when he bragged about his meeting with the Castro regime during a 2016 debate with former Gov. Charlie Crist. He described the proposal to set up a communist base of operations as a “great opportunity” for the city.
He said, “I think it should be in St. Pete and not Tampa, and I’ve met with Cuban officials to do that. I think it’s a great opportunity for this city.”
In a separate exchange, Jolly supported allowing Cubans who reached U.S. shores to remain under the former “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy.
Jolly said, "I think we should protect the ability under the current system with Cuba that if somebody reaches our shores, they should have an opportunity to stay."
The Florida GOP War Room revived the consulate remarks in an Oct. 29 post on X, arguing that Cuban diplomatic facilities can serve as intelligence networks: “David Jolly met with members of Cuban regime to put a Cuban consulate in Florida. Cuban exiles know these entities are used as spy networks and enemies of our country. David Jolly is a danger to Florida and our country!”
In 2015, members of Florida’s Cuban exile community raised national security objections to a new Cuban consulate in the state. As Tampa officials floated the prospect, then-Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) warned that such a facility could support Cuban espionage, according to The Associated Press.
“A Cuban consulate is a headquarters for espionage, so I don’t know what city thinks of that as a badge of honor,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
Other opponents included then-Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and then-Mayor of Miami Tomas Regalado.
While serving in Congress, Jolly supported expanded private travel to Cuba. On June 4, 2015, he voted for an amendment that would have removed proposed restrictions affecting flights and ferry service to Cuba. The amendment failed, 176–247, with Jolly among just 18 Republicans supporting it.
More recently, in an Oct. 28 interview with CiberCuba, Jolly attacked President Donald Trump’s Cuba policy as incoherent and criticized Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s strategy of pressuring the Castro regime. “I don’t believe our current president has a sensible foreign policy and that ultimately, it is coherent,” he said.
"I know that one of Marco Rubio’s priorities would be to see the Cuban regime fall," Jolly said. "But we cannot limit ourselves to pursuing a strategy to provoke its downfall if, at the same time, we are putting the health and lives of the Cuban people at greater risk.”
An October 16 Donalds campaign advertisement features Raymond Molina, a veteran of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. “I know what socialism is,” Molina says. Later in the advertisement, he delivers a closing warning:
“I lost my country once. I won’t lose another.”
The advertisement aired in English and Spanish, according to the Tampa Free Press.
“David Jolly welcomes the radical left. I’ll stand with Floridians who know the cost of socialism and refuse to let it take root here,” Donalds wrote in an accompanying X post. “Florida MUST remain free.”