Ex-GOP congressman says he’s ‘not going back’ to the Republican Party — even after Trump is gone

On MSNBC Saturday, former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) says he will never go back to the Republican Party, even after President Donald Trump is out of office and out of party leadership.

"I want to ask you about the fact that you're now the newly named executive chairman of something called the Serve America Movement," said anchor Ali Velshi. "You're not planning on running a candidate in the coming election. What is the Serve America Movement? What's it for?"

"A lot of people were afraid we'd be running a presidential candidate in 2020. That's not what this is about," said Jolly. "SAM is a group of current existing Republicans, Democrats, independents and former who are focused on trying to inject greater competition to our politics and get a greater result."

"I'm indicative of somebody that aligns with SAM because, Ali, most of my fellow Never Trump Republicans will go right back to being a Republican when Donald Trump is gone. I'm not. I've left the party and I'm not going back, but I also feel liberated by rejecting partisanship, and I'm not ready to pick up the blue jersey, if you will, the ideological blue jersey. But I do want to see something better ... nationally we're a democracy reform organization focused on increasing competition for both parties through undoing partisan gerrymandering, stopping state support of closed partisan primaries, addressing money in politics."

"At the end of the day, ideology is important to a lot of voters, but a lot of voters just want a government that works, that appeals to a cross-partisan coalition," added Jolly. "COVID-19 is a perfect example. It was a missed opportunity by an unfit administration and the distracted Congress. It wasn't missed intelligence. We need better. SAM hopes to fill that gap, not in creating a moderate ideology coalition but creating a coalition around a government that works."

Watch below: