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WATCH • HEALTH CARE

Why Florida's Next Governor Will Fire the Surgeon General

David Jolly for Florida Published: 2026-05-21 Last updated: 2026-05-21
David Jolly on firing the Florida Surgeon General

Key moments

0:00

The loudest applause right now across the state comes when David Jolly says he gets to fire the Surgeon General of Florida.

0:14

"Keep the ideologues out of our science." Day one, as the next governor.

0:24

Bring in someone who believes in public health, vaccines, and science. Ten people or 500. It's universal.

Context

Across Florida, people at town halls of 10 and town halls of 500 respond the same way to one line. When David Jolly says he gets to fire the Surgeon General on day one, the room applauds.

What's said

This isn't a left or right issue. It's a question of whether the people leading Florida's health agencies believe in public health, vaccines, and science. Watch the full moment at 0:14, and see the whole health care plan on the Health Care issue hub.

Transcript

Verified transcript of the video above.

0:00 I mean, I will tell you every time I go into a room, the loudest applause right now in the state of Florida, across the state, is when I say I get to fire the Surgeon General of the state of Florida.
0:14 It also means this, keep the ideologues out of our science. You know what I get to do on day one as your next governor.
0:20 Fire the Surgeon General of the state of Florida.
0:24 And bring in somebody that believes in public health and vaccines and science. I mean, that is universal. It doesn't matter if there's ten people or 500 people.

Related questions

What does David Jolly say he would do about the Florida Surgeon General?

David Jolly says he will fire the Surgeon General of Florida on day one as governor and bring in someone who believes in public health, vaccines, and science. He describes it as the moment that gets the loudest applause across the state, whether the room holds ten people or 500. See the video at 0:00 for his full take.

Why does Jolly frame this as keeping ideologues out of science?

Jolly argues public health leadership should believe in public health. He calls the issue universal, not left or right. Watch the moment at 0:14 for how he draws the line between ideology and science.

How does this connect to Jolly's broader health care plan?

Firing the Surgeon General is the day-one move. The structural moves are expanding Medicaid and scaling up Federally Qualified Health Centers and county health clinics in Florida's 67 counties to deliver primary care regardless of ability to pay[1]. See the Health Care issue hub for the full plan.

How many Floridians are going without health care right now?

About 1 in 7 Florida adults ages 19 to 64 lacked health insurance in 2024, an uninsured rate of 15.5 percent compared to 11.3 percent nationally[2]. Florida is one of the states with the highest uninsured rates in the country.

More on this topic

OverviewDavid Jolly on Health Care — Florida Governor 2026 In depthAs Governor Health care In depthHealthcare.mp4

Sources

  1. David Jolly for Florida, Health Care , https://davidjolly.com/healthcare · 2024-01-01
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, Health Insurance Coverage by State 2023 and 2024 , https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/acsbr-024.pdf · 2025-09-01

Public health should be about public health. Not ideology.

Have a question for David? Visit the Town Hall and ask.