Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who rose from relative political anonymity to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ right-hand man earlier this year, wants a shot at the top job.
He announced Monday afternoon that he’s running for governor in 2026.
The announcement puts the relatively unknown Collins squarely into the middle of a national power struggle over the future of the Republican Party. President Donald Trump, the Republican standard-bearer, has already endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds in the race.
“I’m running for Governor because leadership is forged under pressure, not in soundbites,” Collins wrote in his announcement on X. “I served over 23 years in the United States military, mainly as a Green Beret, where accountability is real, decisions have consequences, and service comes before self. That experience shaped how I lead and why I believe public office is a public trust.”
The run by Collins is widely seen by top Republicans as DeSantis challenging the president’s political authority. The governor ran for president against Trump in 2024. For the last few months, he’s been trying to gin up support for his own handpicked successor — on the president’s home turf.
At a news conference in Broward County on Monday, DeSantis declined to say whether he would endorse Collins, but called him “a good guy” who “served this country admirably as a Green Beret.”
”If I get involved in the primary, you’ll know it. It’ll be at a time and place of my choosing, so we’ll see,” he said.
It’s DeSantis’ most audacious political gambit to date. When the governor sought the 2024 GOP nomination for president against Trump, he established himself as a national brand and raised tens of millions of dollars.
As he takes on Trumpworld, Collins is no DeSantis. He does not cut even a statewide profile. For Collins to change that, he’s going to need to raise lots of money.
Collins will have to amass that cash by tapping into the same Republican-aligned donors that are supportive of the president at a time when Trump’s political team perceives DeSantis as going rogue. Whether Collins has the time or the acumen to amass the cash necessary to be competitive against Donalds, who’s raised more than $35 million already, is a major question.
DeSantis knows firsthand the power of Trump’s endorsement. In the 2018 governor’s race, Trump’s backing of DeSantis was a key factor in the then-congressman’s victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum.
Collins has been hinting at a run for weeks, conducting interviews with media outlets all over the state. He’s talked little about the larger political implications of his announcement, instead talking generally about his leadership style.
“The last thing I want to do is make this about me,” Collins told WPLG in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year. “This is about we.”
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Before entering the political realm, Collins was a Green Beret who deployed four times to two different continents. During one of his tours, he suffered injuries that led to the amputation of his left leg.
After his military career ended, Collins was chief programs officer at Operation BBQ Relief, which feeds first responders and communities hit by natural disasters.
He entered the political fray when he announced in 2021 that he would run for the deep-blue Tampa area congressional seat held by Democrat Kathy Castor. In 2022, Collins shifted gears, filing for the open congressional seat just east of Castor’s. But that race, too, would have been a challenge: Half a dozen Republican primary opponents awaited him. With DeSantis’ blessing, he ultimately pivoted to the state Senate.
In Tallahassee, Collins proved to be one of DeSantis’ biggest allies. One of the first high-profile measures he sponsored was a 2023 bill to allow for the permitless carry of concealed firearms — long a policy DeSantis had championed. In 2024, Collins sponsored a bill that was drafted in part by the governor’s office to ban offshore wind turbines in state waters and delete most of the references to climate change in state law.
The governor rewarded Collins’ loyalty. In 2024, he endorsed Collins’ wife, Layla, in her run for Hillsborough school board. In July, he picked Collins to be his lieutenant governor.
It’s not clear that DeSantis will endorse Collins. His wife, first lady Casey DeSantis, still may run for the state’s top job, though that’s looking less likely. Former House Speaker Paul Renner, another legislative ally of DeSantis’, entered the governor’s race in September. DeSantis said he would not back Renner in the race, and he called his entry “ill-advised.”
At the news conference announcing his appointment of Collins as lieutenant governor, DeSantis said he wanted someone “that is capable of serving and leading as governor if that need were to ever arise.”
Collins thinks he’s capable. Now it’s up to voters. The primary is Aug. 6.
This story may be updated. Check back at tampabay.com.
Times/Herald staff writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.
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