{"id":123326,"date":"2026-01-19T01:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/123326\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T01:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:51:07","slug":"lt-gov-jay-collins-enters-governors-race-emphasizing-economy-education-and-community-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/123326\/","title":{"rendered":"Lt. Gov. Jay Collins enters governor\u2019s race emphasizing economy, education and community safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jay Collins, Florida\u2019s lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate, recently discussed his top policy priorities and views on key issues in an interview on This Week in Jacksonville.<\/a><\/p>\n

Collins emphasized three main priorities: \u201ceconomy, education, and safety and security in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins joins 2026 governor Republican primary against Trump-backed candidate<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a responsibility to protect and preserve what we have and what we want for the next generation,\u201d Collins said. \u201cHow do we put more money back in people\u2019s pockets? How do we make sure that education provides an opportunity to raise everybody? And how do we make sure that safety and security are across our state?\u201d<\/p>\n

On congressional redistricting, Collins stressed the importance of accurate representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our maps don\u2019t represent the reality on the ground, voter breakdown and demographics, then we should step in,\u201d he said, supporting Governor DeSantis\u2019s approach to ensure the process is done without partisan bias.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Gov. Ron DeSantis calls for special session in April to redraw Florida\u2019s congressional districts<\/a><\/p>\n

Discussing agriculture, Collins called food security \u201cnational security\u201d and highlighted challenges facing Florida farmers. <\/p>\n

He expressed caution about lab-grown meat, saying, \u201cWe are not going to do that at the taxpayer expense while we test things.\u201d<\/p>\n

On artificial intelligence, Collins noted both its opportunities and risks. He warned about AI\u2019s energy demands and the dangers of flawed data influencing public opinion. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost kids, they\u2019re not even googling things now. They\u2019re just talking to OpenAI or whoever… And that\u2019s the facts and the truth. And it\u2019s not something people are actually vetting. That\u2019s frightening right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a father, Collins expressed concern about AI\u2019s potential negative impacts on mental health. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hear of people whose kids are committing suicide, because AI is turned into a friend and talks them into a place where they can\u2019t get out of. It\u2019s frightening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Watch the full interview with Collins on This Week in Jacksonville<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jay Collins, Florida\u2019s lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate, recently discussed his top policy priorities and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28,116,118,117,5187,99,7363],"class_list":["post-123326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jay-collins","tag-politics","tag-this-week-in-jacksonville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}