“As a Democrat, I get to believe in math,” said Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly , speaking at a sold-out show at the Museum of History in St. Pete on Aug. 25. The line drew a wave of chuckles from a crowd where Jolly campaign buttons – styled with a 1960s counter-culture flair – clung to the lapels of sweaters and jackets.

Jolly’s quip was meant to underscore his political journey from Republican to Democrat, but it also invited an unintended comparison: a mathematical problem Jolly may not yet want to calculate – how his friendship with Clearwater businessman and now-indicted fraudster Leo Govoni will subtract from his campaign.

Between 2009 and 2025, Govoni — Jolly’s former legislative assistant, financial co-Chair during his 2016 Senate race and longtime friend –

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