Early career With his law degree, he started a law practice in
Daytona Beach, Florida. Sholtz entered politics when he became a one-term member of the
Florida House of Representatives in 1917, During the war he had the rank of ensign and served under the Censorship Board being stationed in
Key West and
Havana, Cuba. His experiences meeting Floridians from a variety of different backgrounds as the president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce convinced him that he could be elected as governor. Sholtz had no money for campaign advertisements apart from mailing a few campaign letters, which required him to go door-to-door for donations. He mainly used a flatbed truck with 2 loudspeakers mounted on it while driving across the state. Sholtz advanced to the runoff election for the primary that was held on June 28. In the runoff he faced off against former Governor Martin and Sholtz ended up winning the election. During the general election in November he ran against Republican candidate
William J. Howey, the mayor of
Howey-in-the-Hills. David Sholtz ended up receiving 286,270 votes or 66.62% of the vote. Sholtz also ended up winning a majority of the vote in every county. While William J. Howey received 93,323 or 33.38% of the vote.
Lynching of Claude Neal During Sholtz's tenure as governor, the
lynching of Claude Neal occurred and there was national attention surrounding the incident. Walter Francis White, the NAACP Secretary sent a telegram to Schultz on October 26, 1934, telling him that the mob who had abducted him was planning on burning him at a stake and that he rescue him and put him in a safe location. Sholtz responded saying that he couldn't send
Florida National Guard troops to
Greenwood without the Jackson County Sheriff, Flake Chambliss asking for the National Guard first; which Chambliss hadn't asked up until that point. After Neal's body was removed from where it was located, most of the mob surrounding him had left but a smaller mob had formed at close to noon during that day. The mob tried targeting local African-Americans that day and the police did not intervene because the mob threatened to beat anyone in the police force it came into contact with. The mayor of Marianna called Sholtz asking for assistance which he granted sending in the
Florida National Guard to restore order and the mob dispersed.
Other events in
Jacksonville, February 1933 During his first message to the state legislature he commended President Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying:
Later life After leaving the Governor's Mansion on January 5, 1937, Sholtz unsuccessfully ran for the
U.S. Senate in
1938, losing the
Democratic primary to
Claude Pepper. He spent most of his time in New York after his term as governor, but he retained his residency in Florida. He died while visiting Key West, Florida in 1953 and is buried at the Cedar Hill Memory Gardens in
Daytona Beach, Florida. == Personal life ==