The "Florida Paid the Price" ad, checked claim by claim.
The ad wants you to believe David Jolly helped open Florida's coast to drilling and made millions doing it. That's a serious charge. So instead of trading accusations, we're going to slow the ad down, take it one claim at a time, and put each claim next to the public record. You decide.
Byron Donalds for Governor paid to put this in front of you. Press play. Every claim gets checked while it talks.
That was the ad. This is the record, with every source.
The record, claim by claim
The ad's words, the verdict, and what the record shows under each. The numbers point to the sources at the end of the page.
Breaking news. An explosion on an oil drilling platform. 2010. Deepwater Horizon. The worst oil spill in American history.
On screen: Oil rig explosion. Deepwater Horizon: worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history (NPR, April 20, 2011).
Was Deepwater Horizon the worst oil spill in American history?True. And in Congress, Jolly wrote the amendment that kept drilling banned off Florida's Gulf coast.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster released roughly 3.19 million barrels, about 134 million gallons, of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico between the April 20 blowout and the capping of the well on July 15; it is the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history, and Florida's Panhandle beaches and fishing economies suffered direct damage from the plume.[1] Five years later, on July 7, 2015, the House approved an amendment offered by Rep. David Jolly that kept the moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf in place until 2022 and barred exploration there, against a Senate bill that would have allowed drilling as close as 50 miles off Florida's Gulf coast.[2]
While Florida was still cleaning up, lobbyist David Jolly was already cashing in.
On screen: Lobbyist David Jolly: cashing in.
Did David Jolly make money lobbying for offshore drilling after Deepwater Horizon?One 2011 disclosure form lists a broad energy bill for one client that paid $30,000. The client said Jolly was never hired to advocate for it.
A first-quarter 2011 lobbying disclosure form for Jolly's firm, Three Bridges Advisors, listed H.R. 909, the Roadmap for America's Energy Future, a broad energy-independence bill that in part called for expanded offshore drilling, among subjects discussed for his client Free Enterprise Nation; Jolly said he listed it because he attended a meeting where it was discussed, and the client's founder said Jolly "was never employed to advocate on its behalf."[3] PolitiFact rated Jolly's own statement that he had "never lobbied for offshore oil drilling" Mostly False, because under the Lobbying Disclosure Act being part of a communication about a bill technically counts as lobbying.[3] OpenSecrets lists Free Enterprise Nation as paying the firm $30,000 in 2011.[4]
Just months after the spill, Jolly was in Washington, pressuring Congress to expand drilling off the Florida coast.
On screen: Lobbyist David Jolly: pressuring Congress to expand oil drilling.
Did David Jolly pressure Congress to expand drilling off Florida's coast?PolitiFact rated this charge Mostly False in 2016. In Congress, Jolly wrote the amendment that kept the eastern Gulf drilling ban in place.
PolitiFact Florida rated Mostly False a 2016 claim that Jolly "has used money and power to try to... drill off our beaches," finding that the only evidence was a single 2011 lobbying disclosure on a broad energy bill, and that "a single instance of lobbying on a broad energy plan years ago is very different than implying Jolly did (and still) wants to expand drilling entirely."[5] On June 3, 2015, Rep. Jolly introduced H.R. 2630, the Preserving Florida's Coastal Communities Act, to extend the eastern Gulf drilling moratorium through 2027, with two Democratic and two Republican cosponsors, all from Florida.[6] On July 7, 2015, the House approved Jolly's amendment keeping the eastern Gulf moratorium in place until 2022 and barring exploration there, against a Senate bill that would have allowed drilling as close as 50 miles off Florida's Gulf coast.[2] In July 2014 he opposed seismic exploration off Florida's Atlantic coast, and in June 2016 he signed a bipartisan letter asking President Obama to halt permits for seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic.[7][8]
Over $5 million in billings. It's all right here, in Jolly's own lobbying records. David Jolly. He took the money. Florida paid the price.
On screen: Lobbyist David Jolly: $5 million in lobbyist billings. David Jolly, public lobbying data. He took the money. Florida paid the price.
Did David Jolly bill $5 million for lobbying on offshore drilling?The only drilling entry in Jolly's lobbying records is one client that paid $30,000. The ad names no source for its $5 million.
OpenSecrets lists Three Bridges Advisors' reported federal lobbying compensation as $495,000 from 15 clients in 2011, $480,000 from 12 clients in 2012 and $220,000 from 10 clients in 2013, with Free Enterprise Nation, the client on the 2011 energy-bill disclosure, paying $30,000 in 2011.[4] The ad's on-screen support for the figure is a document headed "David Jolly, public lobbying data"; the ad names no other source for the $5 million.[9] The only drilling-related entry in the public record is the first-quarter 2011 disclosure listing the Roadmap for America's Energy Future among subjects discussed for Free Enterprise Nation.[3]
David Jolly. He took the money. Florida paid the price.
On screen: He took the money. Florida paid the price.
What is Byron Donalds' record on oil drilling in the Gulf?Donalds voted for Trump's 2025 bill ordering at least 30 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf through 2040, then told a Tampa crowd: "We actually passed one big beautiful bill."
Byron Donalds voted Aye on July 3, 2025 on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which requires the Interior Department to hold at least 30 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of America between 2025 and 2040, two a year, and to offer at least 80 million acres.[10] Eleven days later he told the Turning Point USA summit in Tampa: "The Republicans on Capitol Hill, we actually passed one big beautiful bill."[11] In 2023 he voted for the Lower Energy Costs Act, which required at least two Gulf lease sales a year, and described it to constituents as "eliminating restrictions on drilling and energy exports, reopening federal lands to oil and gas drilling."[12][13] In November 2025 he signed a letter asking that blocks in the eastern Gulf military test and training range be withdrawn from a lease sale, while writing that the signers "wholeheartedly support your push for American energy independence and expanded domestic oil and gas production."[14]
When the next attack comes, we'll do exactly the same thing. Slow it down. Check it. Show our work.
Explore this issue
Sources
- NOAA Office of Response and Restoration, https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/timelines/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill · 2026-08-06
- Sunshine State News (archived), https://web.archive.org/web/20160123195531/http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/congress-adopts-david-jollys-amendment-cutting-oil-exploration-eastern-gulf-until-2022 · 2015-07-08
- PolitiFact Florida, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/jan/10/david-jolly/david-jolly-says-he-never-lobbied-offshore-oil-dri/ · 2014-01-10
- OpenSecrets, lobbying firm profile: Three Bridges Advisors, https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/firms/three-bridges-advisors?cycle=2011&firm_id=244656 · 2014-01-17
- PolitiFact Florida, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/jun/30/charlie-crist/us-rep-david-jolly-worked-drill-our-beaches-crist/ · 2016-06-30
- Congress.gov, H.R. 2630 (114th Congress), https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2630/all-actions · 2015-06-03
- Tampa Tribune (archived), https://web.archive.org/web/20180104215744/https://www.tbo.com/news/politics/florida-officials-oppose-reopening-of-offshore-oil-exploration-20140719/ · 2014-07-19
- Office of Rep. Mark Sanford, press release with full letter text (archived), https://web.archive.org/web/20161209094132/https://sanford.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sanford-connolly-lead-house-letter-to-president-opposing-seismic-testing · 2016-06-08
- Byron Donalds on X, the offshore-drilling ad, https://x.com/ByronDonalds/status/2104560313165037618 · 2026-09-28
- U.S. House Clerk, roll call vote 190 (2025), https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025190 · 2025-07-03
- C-SPAN, Turning Point USA summit, https://archive.org/details/CSPAN_20250714_162900_KCC_Rep._Byron_Donalds_Speaks_at_Turning_Point_USA_Summitbr · 2025-07-14
- U.S. House Clerk, roll call vote 182 (2023), https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023182 · 2023-03-30
- Office of Rep. Byron Donalds, Weekly Wrap-Up, https://donalds.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=3PYRAJNJ3XW7G · 2023-04-03
- Office of U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis, letter to the President, https://patronis.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-patronis-florida-members-raise-concerns-over-gulf-of-america-oil-drilling · 2025-11-20
Last reviewed October 18, 2026.