Tampa St. Petersburg, FL, October 18, 2026 —

An ad released by Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds accuses Democratic nominee David Jolly of lobbying for offshore drilling after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. An article examining the claim rates the ad Mostly False, saying it overstates Jolly’s lobbying activities and misrepresents his firm’s billings.

The article also says the ad leaves out Jolly’s subsequent efforts as a congressman to oppose drilling off Florida’s coast. That omission, alongside the account of the lobbying and billing claims, is central to the article’s assessment of the ad.

The information provided does not specify when the ad was released, identify Jolly’s firm, give the amount or nature of its billings, or detail the lobbying activities cited in the ad. It also does not describe the particular actions Jolly took in Congress, or provide the article’s underlying evidence or methodology. Those details are not available here, so the rating cannot be independently examined from the summary alone.

The dispute centers on how the ad characterizes Jolly’s record: it links him to lobbying for offshore drilling after the oil spill, while the article’s review says that characterization exaggerates his activities and presents the firm’s billings inaccurately. The review further argues that the ad omits his later opposition to drilling off Florida’s coast.

The available account does not provide responses from either candidate or additional information about the broader campaign. It establishes the article’s conclusion about the ad, but leaves the specific evidence behind that conclusion unspecified.


Story summarized from the original created by By Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact reporter on www.tampabay.com, see more information here.

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