Former President Bill Clinton made his first midterm stop in Florida for Democrat David Jolly and unloaded on President Trump over Russia, signaling how hard Democrats are pushing a tough race.
On Oct. 20 in Pembroke Park, the 80-year-old former president spoke for about 33 minutes at the Koinonia Worship Center on behalf of Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, a one-time Republican congressman now running against U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.
Clinton used the appearance to assail Trump on foreign policy, immigration enforcement, and White House renovations while praising Jolly and his running mate, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham. The Palm Beach Post reported the remarks and the surrounding campaign money push.
Jolly told the crowd they would end divisive politics and focus on economic policies. Afterward he told reporters the race is competitive and that Clinton sees Florida turning more purple.
Clinton framed Trump as soft on Russia and hard on allies. He tied the charge to recent events and a photo Ukraine released a day earlier showing a one-year-old baby killed in a stroller by a Russian strike in Nova Vodolaha.
Before the blockquote lines, Clinton’s own words carried the attack:
"I’m tired of the way we treat our allies like dirt, and just last week President Trump has finally done what he threatened to do when he ran the first time, which is to abandon Ukraine and embrace Vladimir Putin all over again,"
He also claimed Trump bypassed Congress on a Russian diesel deal, held up Patriot missile transfers, publicly blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the war and called for his replacement, defended Russia’s actions as “fine,” and floated a three-way summit with Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping without Ukrainian representation. Those claims come from Clinton’s speech as carried in the reporting.
Clinton has remained a draw for Democrats who want national attention on state races, a pattern also visible when Newsom courts Bill Clinton’s advice amid 2028 talk.
The former president mixed foreign policy with domestic digs. He mocked Rose Garden work “into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom,” said Congress should protest the renovations, and argued Trump’s immigration approach would backfire by Nov. 3.
"You live in Florida, you got to have some real fans to think you’re going to make votes as a Republican by kicking Cubans out,"
He borrowed an introductory speaker’s line as well: “It’s not about woke, it’s about broke.” On Donalds, Clinton claimed the Republican “even took down a section that listed the Trump agenda as a priority of his. Go figure.”
The same day, the Democratic Governors Association announced it would spend $1 million on behalf of Jolly. Jolly’s campaign said Clinton headlined a private-residence fundraiser that raised $3 million.
Jolly has spent 18 months arguing Florida is in play. He noted Donalds has outraised him by at least $120 million and opened a new line of attack on the purpose of that cash:
"He’s going around the state raising a bunch of money that he’s not going to spend. We’re moving into that space of this campaign where we need to ask, 'Why are you raising this money?'"
He added: “Are you going to use it for this campaign or are you actually raising it for some other purpose?” Jolly also cast the race as bigger than one office, saying Florida can lead a new coalition capable of a competitive White House in 2028, reshaping Congress, and “reimagining our politics.”
Democratic activist Dr. Fergie Reid Jr., tied to the Virginia-based 90-for-90 group that recruited Florida candidates, called the Clinton stop “an absolute indicator that the ground has shifted in Florida.” Reid said national figures do not deploy lightly: “You don’t put these people in play unless there's a really good reason to do so,” and noted Clinton could instead go to Michigan, Kansas, or Texas.
Clinton’s return to the trail fits a wider late-cycle pattern in which Bill and Hillary Clinton push late midterm stops as the party’s old guard meets a shifting map.
Clinton lauded his own two terms and the records of Barack Obama and Joe Biden on inflation and unemployment. He called Jolly’s choice of Gwen Graham “brilliant.” The appearance itself is the national party’s clearest signal yet that it views the Jolly, Donalds contest as worth major investment.
That investment arrives in a state Republicans have dominated in recent cycles. Democrats are pouring celebrity wattage and association cash into a candidate who left the GOP and now needs every national assist he can get. Similar Clinton campaign swings have drawn coverage when the Clintons return to the midterm trail and when he reaches for Scripture on the same Florida stump.
Family and political networks around the Clintons continue to surface in unexpected places, including recent reporting on family ties to Bill Clinton in other stories that keep the former president’s orbit in the news.
Clinton’s critique of Trump’s Russia posture, ICE usage, and renovation choices is classic campaign-trail combat. It does not erase the basic math Jolly himself flagged: a massive fundraising gap, a Republican opponent who has already reshaped his public presentation, and a Florida electorate that has not lately rewarded Democratic governors.
Democrats can fly in an 80-year-old former president, raise $3 million in one night, and announce another million from the governors’ association. Voters still decide whether the purple-state story matches the state they live in.
Florida remains a proving ground where national talking points meet local results, and results, not rallies, still set the terms.
