Clinton helps Jolly raise millions then sings his praises at South Florida church

Florida Politics admin October 21, 2026 0 Comments

Clinton helps Jolly raise millions then sings his praises at South Florida church

With less than two weeks until Election Day and polls pointing to a tight race for the Florida governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, Democrats are rolling out heavy-hitting support. On Tuesday night at the Koinonia Worship Center in Pembroke Park, former President Bill Clinton campaigned alongside David Jolly, Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, in an evening focused on unity, hope and restoring a political culture that rejects the demonization of differing views.

Clinton said Jolly was the man to lead Florida.

“You need somebody who will get up every morning and just bust a gut trying to do something that will help you. That’s what you need, and I think that someone is David Jolly,” he said.

Clinton, who won the presidency in 1992 and 1996, told the room full of more than 400 supporters, who erupted when he entered, that he supports Jolly and his running mate, former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, because “they’re in this race for what I think are the right reasons.”

“To give every Floridian, without regard to race, politics, religion, or you name it, a chance to build a better life for themselves, their children, the state,” Clinton said. “And he has the background, the willingness, the ability, and the determination to get it done.”

Jolly, the son of a preacher, drew on that background from the pulpit, offering himself as the solution to a political system he says is broken and divided. “We will never make America great again if we don’t make America good again,” he said.

“One day they are going to ask when the nation was broken, when we were more divided than ever before, when our politicians were telling us to hate each other. ‘Mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, auntie, uncle, what did you do in that moment?’” he asked. “And the answer is that we were a people that stood up in the moment when the nation was broken. We stood up together. We believed in the fundamental goodness of people.”

Clinton’s visit comes after Fox News downgraded its rating of the Florida governor’s race, saying it was not a “sure thing for the GOP” and moving it from “Likely R” to “Lean R.” But the signs are mixed. A new N+ Univision/YouGov poll shows Republican Congressman Byron Donalds leading Jolly 50% to 42%.

Clinton added a last-minute financial boost to the Jolly campaign. In a private fundraising event earlier in the day, Clinton helped raise roughly $3 million from an audience of about 50 donors. The Democratic Governors Association also announced Tuesday a $1 million investment into the campaign.

Clinton, who spoke for about 30 minutes Tuesday night, took a dig at Donalds for deemphasizing his support for Trump on his campaign website, and accused him of “changing face.”

“I laughed the other day when he took references to President Trump off his campaign website. He even took down a section that listed ‘enact the Trump agenda’ as a priority of his. Go figure,” he said. “Now I understand the need to periodically update your website, but people in Florida are entitled to know, I think, whether you change your mind or just change the words, hoping nobody will notice.”

The program began with an interfaith service led by Pastor Gregory Thompson, Imam Dr. Abdul Hamid Samra, and Rabbi Rachel Greengrass, who stressed the essential need for unity and hope.

Greengrass described civic work as an expression of love, urging the packed room of supporters to love the “person who doesn’t pray like you and — hold your horses— doesn’t even vote like you.

“That expansion of love is our civic work. Living wages, civil rights, health care, protecting our planet, welcoming the immigrant. These aren’t policy issues. These are religious issues. They are moral issues,” she said. “They are how we make love tangible in our world. We cannot hide behind the walls of fear or apathy. We’re called to revolutionary love.”

When asked about the former president’s visit, Donalds— who kicked off a statewide bus tour this week spanning 58 counties, including two in South Florida — said he was unfazed by the appearance.

“Doesn’t matter to me. Trying to bring Bill Clinton and try to make it seem that there is still a moderate party over there. It’s just not the reality,” he said at a campaign stop in Fort Pierce. “The reality is it’s a very left-wing progressive [party]. … And so I think the people of Florida reject that.”

Anna Marian Block, the Republican Governors Association communications director, in a statement Tuesday said that “nothing says desperation quite like bringing Bill Clinton out of retirement to rescue David Jolly’s flailing campaign.” She said Jolly wants to take Florida backwards.

“Higher taxes, bigger government, and more burdens on hardworking families,” she said. “Floridians aren’t interested in going backward, no matter who Jolly brings in to campaign for him.”

But Jolly said come Nov. 3, the story is going to be about people who “stood up and said everybody deserves a fair shot, everybody deserves dignity, everybody deserves an economy that works for everybody.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2026 at 5:25 AM with the headline “Clinton helps Jolly raise millions then sings his praises at South Florida church.”