{"id":239467,"date":"2026-04-20T21:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239467\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:24:07","slug":"florida-lt-gov-jay-collins-denies-exit-rumors-attacks-byron-donalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239467\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins denies exit rumors, attacks Byron Donalds"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins sought Monday to turn rumors about the viability of his campaign into a show of defiance, insisting at a St. Petersburg press conference that he is staying in the Republican governor\u2019s race. He announced his team was launching a seven-figure media buy<\/a>, then sharpened his attacks on front-runner Byron Donalds.<\/p>\n

\u201cRest assured, whoever started the rumor, I think I’ve handled that very clearly, and I’ll stand on my last statement<\/a>,\u201d said Collins. \u201cWe are not suspending our campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH FORREST SAUNDERS’ COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n

Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins denies exit rumors, attacks Byron Donalds<\/p>\n

The Lt. Gov. went on to use the event to rebut speculation that he might exit as he trails badly in early polling<\/a> and fundraising. He also said the race should be judged less by who is leading the primary and more by who can win a general election in November.<\/p>\n

Collins\u2019 campaign paired the event with a 13-page opposition research packet aimed at Donalds, raising questions about the congressman\u2019s stock-trading disclosures, past criminal-history issues and voting record in Congress. Collins argued that nominating Donalds would create unnecessary risk for Republicans in a year when Democrats believe they have an opening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis race is not about just who can win the primary, who has the most money or the most endorsements,\u201d said Collins. \u201cIt’s about who can win the general election.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge for Collins is that Donalds remains the clear public leader in the GOP primary. An Emerson College Polling<\/a> survey released this month found Donalds at 46% support among likely Republican primary voters, with Collins at 4% and 39% undecided. The same survey found Donalds leading Democrat David Jolly 44% to 39% in a hypothetical general-election matchup.<\/p>\n

Donalds has also built a commanding financial advantage. His campaign announced earlier this month that it had raised $22 million<\/a> in the first quarter of 2026, reinforcing his status as the best-funded Republican in the race. Donalds entered the contest with President Donald Trump\u2019s endorsement, a major advantage in a Florida GOP primary.<\/p>\n

Donalds’ campaign dismissed Collins\u2019 move as the behavior of a struggling opponent. In a statement, Monday, spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said, \u201cFailing campaigns stop talking about issues and start attacking the frontrunner,\u201d and said Donalds remains focused on public safety, affordability and \u201cDefending the Florida Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic side is watching the GOP clash closely. After Collins\u2019 press conference, Jolly said Republicans were having \u201ca hard family conversation right now\u201d and said he would welcome a November matchup against whoever emerges from the primary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins sought Monday to turn rumors about the viability of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-239467","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\/239467","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=239467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}