Exclusive: Jolly advisor says lack of national dollars doomed campaign

• Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly's campaign ran out of money for final ad pushes.
• Jolly's campaign adviser stated that Republican Byron Donalds' $173 million war chest deterred national donors.
• The adviser believes a lack of funding prevented Democrats from capitalizing on scandals involving their opponents.

During the final stretch, Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly teed up several negative political television ads that the campaign hoped could sway some undecided voters in his race against Republican Byron Donalds.

He never got to take that big swing. The ads never aired. The campaign was out of money.

"We had everything. There's so much on the cutting room floor right now. It makes me sick to my stomach," said Mark Riddle, who served as Jolly's senior campaign adviser.

In an interview two days after the Nov. 3 election, Riddle talked about how Donalds' $173 million in campaign funds just couldn't be surmounted, how that big war chest scared national donors away from Florida and whether U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, the Florida Democrats' national star this election, kept donors on the sidelines because they underestimated her campaign.

"It was David versus Goliath and we couldn't afford the slingshot," Riddle said.

National donors prioritized other competitive races and the financial constraints on the Jolly campaign resulted in the former congressman coming up short by 107,686 votes or 1.31%.

"We have to figure our resourcing, the institutional money in this state that has been developed over a 30-year period was just daunting every day," he said. "And that is the thing that I'm currently just the most heartbroken over."

Jolly collected about $27 million overall for his campaign. The Democrats in Florida missed out on the historic blue wave that swept other ruby red states like Texas and Kansas.

• Nixon lost by 239,709 votes to Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, just under 3% of the vote.
• Jose Javier Rodriguez lost to state Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier by 130,000 votes, or 2%.
• Anette Taddeo lost the Chief Financial Officer raise to Republican incumbent Blaise Ingoglia by 154,343 votes, or 1.8%.

Riddle said an infusion $3 million came through a fundraising event headlined by former President Bill Clinton. Former President Barack Obama did not visit Florida and his endorsement, Riddle said, came on a Friday afternoon. A reported $1 million donation to Jolly from the Democratic Governors Association ended up at about $200,000 because so many strings were attached.

'Oh my Lord, we begged and pleaded (for campaign money)'

"Oh my Lord, we begged and pleaded. I don't know how many memos I wrote that all the polls were showing it was close. We knew it was close. We couldn't convince anybody," Riddle said.

Of course, in any election's post-mortem, the finger-pointing has begun. Joe Scarborough, the titular host of Morning Joe, has railed since the Nov. 3 results at Democrats about not investing in Florida.

"If Democrat donors had given a little bit of money to Angie Nixon and David Jolly, Florida would be blue this morning," he said on the Nov. 5 show.

For the Jolly campaign, regret is an empty payment for a debt that can never be settled.

How close was it? "An extra $10 million for TV for David Jolly probably wins this race," Riddle said.

Should David Jolly have debated Byron Donalds?

Riddle said national Democrats simply wrote off Florida. As a result down-ballot candidates, like Rodriguez, could not get the message out about the Hope Florida scandal, in which $10 million in Medicaid funds allegedly was siphoned off for political purposes by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration. The scandal involved Moody and Uthmeier and state first lady Casey DeSantis' charity Hope Florida, which was used as a pass-through.

"The Hope Florida story didn't break through in the AG race, or for Moody, because nobody had the money to put it on air," Riddle said. "Only like 50% of the state was even aware of Hope Florida."

Riddle said Jolly's decision not to debate Donalds, who tried to dictate the terms, didn't hurt the Democrat because media coverage of others around the country just played into the GOP messaging. He said that it was doubtful the whole state of Florida would have tuned in anyway.

"We stand by that decision," he said. "Most of the headlines around the country were geared around cultural issues and socialism."

Why didn't Angie Nixon's surprise candidacy help bring in national dollars?

Nixon's campaign captured a national audience and showed progressives can be competitive in Florida again. But the member of the Democratic Socialists of America might have scared of donors who saw the U.S. Senate, and Florida, as a lost cause.

"Angie worked her tail off and I thought her team did a really good job. She was a really disciplined candidate in the general election," Riddle said. "All that said, it was a double-edge sword."

When Nixon trounced Alex Vindman — a well-financed, well connected candidate, in the primary with a national profile — she may have taken national donor money off the table.

"If you look at where money was invested, it was invested in what I would say were Tier 1 Senate races: Iowa, Ohio, Georgia Texas," Riddle said. "A Vindman candidacy would have generated a lot more money and lot more tools in our toolbox."

Other factors contributed to the Jolly loss to a lesser extent, Riddle said. Those included the Amendment 3 Property Tax cut initiative that drove Republicans to the polls and smaller levers such as Black voters' anger at U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz for deciding to run in a newly formed congressional district that included an area that traditionally ran Black candidates, he said.

"DeSantis got this to be a Democratic problem instead of a Republican problem and that brush fire never got put out," he said.

John Pacenti is the Government Impact Reporter for The USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.