If you don’t vote, don’t complain. -- YNOT!

I wanted to make a clean, unbiased assessment of some of my state candidates who will be on my ballot this November.

So I used AI to create a simple system: take two candidates, research what they themselves say they believe in, examine their stated policies and proposals, and put the differences side by side in plain English.

No endorsements. No political spin. No telling you who is “better.” Just the candidates’ stated positions and policies, organized in a way that makes them easier to understand and compare.

My goal is simple: give people the information and let them make up their own minds.

I’ll be posting these comparisons as we get closer to Election Day. I hope you find them useful.

And most importantly: vote.

You don’t have to agree with me, your neighbor, or anyone else. But participate.

If you don’t vote, don’t complain.

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We went back through their current campaign platforms and legislative records so this reflects their positions as of October 7, 2026.

The most important caveat is that Donalds/Jolly are running for Florida governor, while Moody/Nixon are running for U.S. Senate. A governor directly controls much more of Florida’s insurance, education, policing, permitting and state-tax policy; a senator deals primarily with federal taxation, immigration, healthcare, labor, defense and national regulation.

Side-by-side policy matrix

Where the choices diverge most

For the governor’s race, insurance is probably the cleanest illustration of the difference in governing philosophy. Donalds wants to repair the existing private insurance market through litigation reform, competition, transparency, home hardening and lower regulatory costs. Jolly wants the state to take a much larger role by absorbing hurricane catastrophe risk through an expanded state fund. Byron Donalds for Governor

Healthcare has a similar divide. Donalds emphasizes price transparency and competition, whereas Jolly proposes Medicaid expansion plus expanded publicly supported primary care. Byron Donalds for Governor

Education is less binary. Donalds emphasizes school choice, literacy and vocational pathways. Jolly emphasizes more public-school funding, higher teacher compensation and tighter requirements/means-testing for vouchers. Byron Donalds for Governor

For the Senate race, the economic gap between Moody and Nixon is substantially larger. Moody supports lower federal taxes, business-oriented tax policy and spending restraint; Nixon proposes major universal programs financed partly through a billionaire wealth tax and higher taxes on capital/corporations. Senator Moody

Healthcare is especially distinct: Moody is working within the existing Medicare/Medicaid/private-insurance structure; Nixon proposes Medicare for All. Senator Moody

Immigration may be the sharpest institutional contrast: Moody wants faster removal and stronger federal enforcement; Nixon wants ICE abolished and immigration enforcement rebuilt under a different structure, alongside pathways to citizenship and an initial deportation moratorium. Senator Moody

One particularly interesting area is data centers and AI, because all four acknowledge some downside to enormous data-center growth, but their remedies differ:

That issue cuts across the normal partisan divide much more than healthcare, immigration, guns or abortion. Byron Donalds for Governor

For someone trying to understand the actual policy choices rather than the campaign rhetoric, I would pay especially close attention to insurance, property taxes/housing, healthcare, data centers/AI and education in the governor’s race, and taxes, healthcare, immigration, AI, labor and federal spending in the Senate race. Those are areas where the competing proposals would produce materially different government policy.

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Byron Donalds vs. David Jolly is the 2026 Florida governor’s race. Ashley Moody vs. Angie Nixon is the 2026 U.S. Senate race. Jolly is a former Republican congressman who later became an independent and is now running as a Democrat; Moody is the Republican incumbent senator, while Nixon is a Democratic state representative. Byron Donalds for Governor

Byron Donalds — Republican — Governor

Donalds’ campaign is built around what he calls affordability, accountability and opportunity, with a fairly conventional conservative approach to government but some Florida-specific proposals.

Housing, insurance and cost of living: He wants to retain Florida’s recent insurance litigation reforms, reduce state fees when reserves permit, expand home-hardening programs, streamline rebuilding permits and keep Citizens Property Insurance relatively small. He also proposes an online insurer scorecard showing prices, claims performance and denials. He emphasizes restraining property taxes rather than creating a large public insurance program. Byron Donalds for Governor

Taxes and business: Donalds wants to preserve Florida’s zero personal-income-tax structure, reduce regulations and accelerate permits. One unusual proposal is essentially a public “shot clock” showing how long governments are taking to approve permits. He also proposes specialized courts for complex business disputes. Byron Donalds for Governor

Healthcare: His approach emphasizes competition and price transparency rather than expanding government insurance. His “Your Doctor, Your Price” proposal includes posting cash prices for common procedures, reducing prior-authorization barriers, attacking surprise billing and increasing patient choice among licensed providers. Byron Donalds for Governor

Education: He emphasizes phonics and early literacy, testing for reading problems in K–2, free tutoring for struggling third-graders and performance bonuses for reading teachers. He also strongly emphasizes vocational education, apprenticeships and alternatives to four-year college debt. Byron Donalds for Governor

Immigration and crime: Donalds favors mandatory E-Verify for Florida businesses, restricting state benefits associated with illegal immigration, close cooperation between state/local police and federal immigration enforcement, and aggressive fentanyl/cartel enforcement. Byron Donalds for Governor

Technology and growth: Interestingly, he has a substantial space-industry agenda: attempting to move NASA headquarters and the Space Force Academy to Florida, pre-approving aerospace manufacturing sites and expanding technical training for aerospace workers. Byron Donalds for Governor

Environment: He supports continuing Everglades restoration, controlling nutrient runoff and sewage that contribute to algae/red tide, and protecting aquifers and coastal barriers. Byron Donalds for Governor

Government accountability: Annual audits, searchable government contracts and expanded disclosure of salaries, taxes and fees are a substantial part of his agenda. Byron Donalds for Governor

So Donalds’ governing model is broadly: lower taxes + less regulation + law enforcement + private-market solutions, with targeted state intervention in insurance, education, infrastructure and transparency.

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David Jolly — Democrat — Governor

Jolly is somewhat unusual because he served in Congress as a Republican, spent years as an independent and is now the Democratic nominee. His current platform is substantially more interventionist than Donalds’, particularly on insurance, healthcare, education and guns. David Jolly

Property insurance: This may be his most distinctive proposal. Jolly wants a state catastrophic insurance fund to assume much of the hurricane-catastrophe risk currently priced into private insurance. His argument is that taking extreme hurricane risk out of the private market could dramatically reduce premiums. He also supports state-backed, no-interest financing for expensive condominium structural repairs. David Jolly

That is a fundamentally different philosophy from Donalds: Donalds wants to make the existing private insurance market function better; Jolly wants the state to assume a significant portion of catastrophic risk.

Healthcare: Jolly supports Florida finally accepting Medicaid expansion and proposes expanding community/primary-care centers throughout all 67 counties. David Jolly

Education: He wants higher public-school funding and teacher salaries. He would continue allowing private-school vouchers but wants participating private schools held to standards similar to public schools, and he favors means-testing vouchers rather than making them universally available regardless of income. David Jolly

Abortion: Jolly is explicitly pro-choice and says Florida should restore protections broadly resembling the Roe v. Wade/Casey framework. David Jolly

Guns: He supports banning sales of new assault-style weapons, universal background checks, potentially licensing firearm ownership and retaining/expanding Florida’s red-flag laws. He says these policies should coexist with lawful gun ownership. David Jolly

Climate and energy: Jolly accepts climate change as a state planning issue and proposes more coastal resilience spending, clean-energy deployment, water protection and renewable-energy integration by utilities. David Jolly

Government reform: Campaign-finance reform, ethics rules, reducing corporate influence in Tallahassee and giving local governments more autonomy are prominent parts of his campaign. He also favors making citizen ballot initiatives easier rather than harder. David Jolly

So Jolly’s model is roughly: use state government more aggressively to solve insurance, healthcare and education problems, while pursuing socially liberal policies and government/ethics reform.

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Ashley Moody — Republican — U.S. Senate

Moody’s Senate campaign is much more connected to national Republican policy and Trump’s “America First” agenda than Donalds’ governor campaign, because she is dealing with federal policy.

Her stated top themes are the economy, public safety and government accountability. WGCU

Taxes and economy: She strongly supports the current federal tax package, particularly deductions commonly described as “No Tax on Tips,” “No Tax on Overtime” and tax relief involving Social Security income. Her broader position is lower taxes, less regulation and spending restraint. Senator Moody

Immigration: Moody favors significantly stronger enforcement: expedited removal of certain noncitizens convicted of crimes, greater state/local participation in immigration enforcement and restrictions on federal money for sanctuary jurisdictions. WGCU

Crime and police: This has been a major part of her career as Florida attorney general. She supports additional resources and legal tools for police, anti-trafficking measures and aggressive fentanyl enforcement. Senator Moody

Abortion: Moody is firmly on the anti-abortion side of the issue. One current proposal would make it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion in violation of applicable parental-notification/consent requirements. Senator Moody

Government reform: She supports banning members of Congress, spouses and dependent children from owning/trading individual stocks. She also supports nationwide voter-ID requirements and greater disclosure of federal spending. Senator Moody

AI and technology: Moody actually has a fairly substantial AI-regulation record. She supports the NO FAKES Act covering unauthorized AI-generated likenesses, the Kids Online Safety Act and measures dealing with scams and AI risks to minors. Senator Moody

She also supports requiring large data centers to bear the incremental electricity-grid costs they generate rather than shifting those costs onto residential ratepayers. Senator Moody

Education/workforce: She proposes increasing taxes on very large university endowments and redirecting some of that money toward technical schools, apprenticeships and vocational education. Senator Moody

Florida environment: Despite being conservative on energy overall, Moody supports keeping offshore oil drilling away from Florida’s coastline and has sponsored legislation extending the federal moratorium. Senator Moody

Her general philosophy is therefore Trump-aligned economic and immigration policy combined with a strong law-enforcement orientation, plus targeted regulation of AI/Big Tech and government ethics.

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Angie Nixon — Democrat — U.S. Senate

Nixon is considerably to the economic left of Jolly. She joined the Democratic Socialists of America in 2026, although she has said she does not endorse every DSA position. Her campaign platform itself contains several social-democratic/democratic-socialist economic proposals. PolitiFact

Healthcare: She supports Medicare for All, replacing much of the existing private insurance structure with a universal federal system. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Families and employment: Her “Working Families Guarantee” includes universal childcare/pre-K, paid family and sick leave, and a federally supported jobs program. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Housing: Nixon proposes large-scale construction of permanently affordable housing, national rent stabilization, stronger eviction protections, expanded Section 8, limits on corporate purchases of single-family homes and a federal reinsurance backstop for property insurance. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Taxes: She supports substantially higher taxes on very wealthy households, including a proposed 5% annual wealth tax on net worth above $1 billion, treating capital gains more like wage income and closing corporate and estate-tax loopholes. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Labor: Nixon supports the PRO Act, stronger unions, federally guaranteed paid leave, a higher minimum wage indexed to inflation and eliminating state “right-to-work” laws. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Education: Tuition-free public college and trade school, student-debt cancellation, increased K–12 spending and higher teacher pay are part of her platform. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Immigration and criminal justice: This is one of the sharpest differences with Moody. Nixon supports abolishing ICE and rebuilding federal immigration enforcement under a different structure, creating pathways to citizenship, temporarily pausing deportations while enforcement practices are reviewed, ending private prisons, decriminalizing marijuana federally and shifting money toward community-based public safety. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

AI and Big Tech: Nixon has an unusually detailed AI platform. She wants tech companies rather than residential customers to bear data-center energy/water costs; proposes no new data centers until federal guardrails exist; favors stronger antitrust enforcement; wants protections for workers displaced by AI; and supports mandatory safety testing and disclosure rules for AI systems, particularly systems used by children. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Climate: She favors a large renewable-energy transition, ending fossil-fuel subsidies, modernizing the electrical grid and spending more on hurricane resilience. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Foreign policy: Nixon advocates a more restrained U.S. foreign policy, greater use of diplomacy and international institutions, reduced emphasis on military spending and stricter human-rights conditions on U.S. military assistance. Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate

Her philosophy is therefore substantially more structural: larger universal public programs, stronger labor power, higher taxation of extreme wealth, stricter regulation of corporations/AI, and major changes to immigration and criminal-justice policy.

The biggest philosophical differences

The interesting thing about these four is that they don’t fit into just one left-versus-right scale.

Donalds vs. Jolly is largely a debate about how much Florida government should intervene directly. Donalds generally wants lower taxes, regulatory reform and market competition; Jolly is more willing to use state financing, public insurance mechanisms, Medicaid and direct public investment.

Moody vs. Nixon is a much wider ideological divide. Moody is campaigning on conservative taxation, immigration enforcement, policing and the Trump economic agenda. Nixon wants Medicare for All, wealth taxes, stronger unions, national rent controls/stabilization and major changes to immigration enforcement.

One area where there is an interesting amount of overlap is AI/data centers. Donalds, Moody and Nixon all have proposals aimed at preventing ordinary electricity customers from subsidizing enormous data-center power costs—although Nixon goes considerably further by proposing a pause on new data-center construction until federal rules are established. Byron Donalds for Governor

 

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