COLLEGE TOWN, FL (WTXL) — Students at Florida A&M University got to question gubernatorial candidate David Jolly face-to-face at a Monday night town hall.
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Gubernatorial candidate David Jolly took the stage at Florida A&M University's Lee Hall Auditorium Monday night for a town hall that gave students the opportunity to bring their concerns directly to someone running for the state's highest office.
Students inside Lee Hall were not just sitting back and listening — they were asking questions.
The event marked the second gubernatorial town hall at FAMU in less than a month. Candidate Byron Donalds visited the same campus for a similar event nearly two weeks earlier.
Cameron Temple, a FAMU student, said the experience of being part of the event was meaningful.
"Seeing him in a larger setting, especially as we're getting close to election day and then getting the opportunity to speak with them again was very amazing, and also seeing different students across other majors across the great Tallahassee community knowing that FAMU could also be a place where anybody across the community can gather to engage with politicians, is very reassuring," Temple said.
For students willing to speak up, the experience was about more than just getting an answer. It was about having their voices heard in a conversation about Florida's future.
Jaheelia Sewell, a FAMU student, said the chance to speak with a candidate face-to-face felt significant.
"Not a lot of people have a chance to talk to, like, a politician face-to-face basically like today's and being FAMU and having an opportunity, it feels really good cause I did have some questions about him, but I really want to go there tonight to see what his policies are," Sewell said.
During the question-and-answer portion of the town hall, one student asked Jolly about his past as a Republican.
"How can you as a person that was a member formerly a member of the party that at least for my entire life has been very intense on bringing it back and reincarnate Jim Crow how can you give us those asses that you won't be like those that came before you and what were you do on day one to approve of your intentions?" the student said.
"I don't think the problem is that I used to be a republican. I think the problem is my opponent still is a republican…my job is to be a good American and my job should be a good governor for the state and so you're right to point to some of the checkered past of the modern republican party, but I would also probably end where I started. I don't think the problem is that I'm a former republican. I think the problem is there people who know better today who remain in the Republican party," Jolly said.
While the questions and answers may have differed, students who stepped up to the microphone had something they don't get every day: the chance to speak directly with someone who could become Florida's next governor. With Election Day just weeks away, FAMU students have now had the opportunity to question both candidates for governor on their own campus.
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