{"id":189646,"date":"2026-03-13T03:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T03:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/189646\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T03:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T03:29:06","slug":"florida-lt-gov-jay-collins-campaigns-in-boca-raton-outlines-vision-for-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/189646\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins campaigns in Boca Raton, outlines vision for state"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12)  \u2014 Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins brought his campaign for governor to Boca Raton on Thursday, pitching himself as a proven conservative leader focused on public safety, immigration enforcement, and easing the state\u2019s affordability crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Collins, who is seeking the Republican nomination, believes Florida is on the right track and argued his approach is rooted in meeting voters where they are. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Florida, nothing is ever going to be given to you; you got to earn it in this state. That means you got to go see people for who they are, how they are, where they are,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n<p>His Boca Raton visit was part of a multi-city campaign swing as the GOP field takes shape. Collins is running alongside several other candidates, including Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/782489-poll-byron-donalds-holds-40-point-lead-in-gop-governor-primary\/https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/782489-poll-byron-donalds-holds-40-point-lead-in-gop-governor-primary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">A new American Promise poll of likely Republican primary voters<\/a> shows Donalds leading at 44%. <\/p>\n<p>Collins, however, pointed to his legislative record as evidence that he can deliver results. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best indicator of future performance is past performance. I passed 55 bills in 3 years. Some of the people I\u2019m running against have passed 3,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Collins was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2022 and has been viewed as one of Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 key allies in the Legislature. He said he wants to continue that vision, emphasizing a \u201claw and order\u201d approach and strong support for police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe stand for our law enforcement, we have their back. Hard stop, unequivocally,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n<p>On immigration, Collins argued illegal immigration is costing Florida billions and said he wants to keep strong partnerships with federal agencies. <\/p>\n<p>He also warned that drug traffickers are changing their methods as security increases at the southern border, including a shift toward Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow they\u2019re moving into maritime lands, I&#8217;m hearing \u2013 they\u2019re going to continue to adapt, and we&#8217;re going to have to adapt around them,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n<p>Collins also addressed affordability, saying Florida\u2019s insurance market is stronger following recent reforms. He said he is still looking for ways to put more money back into residents\u2019 pockets, including eliminating homestead property taxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSerious times \u2013 they call for serious leaders, and that\u2019s who I am, that\u2019s what I do,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n<p>Collins is scheduled to continue campaigning on Friday with a stop in Jacksonville. Florida\u2019s primary election is in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins brought his campaign for governor to Boca&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-189646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189646","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=189646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}