the latest poll from Emerson College<\/a> shows U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds holds a 42-point lead in the Republican primary; however, 39% of voters remain undecided.<\/p>\n\u201cThe best indicator of future potential is past performance, and I find his performance wanting,\u201d Collins said of Donalds. \u201cI find his decision-making wanting.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 45 miles away in Sarasota, Donalds made his own pitch to voters, highlighting his personal story and priorities as he continues to solidify his position as the Republican frontrunner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI moved here at 17 years old \u2014\u00a030 years ago. I’ve built the Florida dream for myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI want a Florida that is bigger, better and brighter than it’s ever been before.\u201d<\/p>\n
His platform has been centered on immigration, affordability and alignment with President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda. The president backed Donalds in this race before he even officially announced his candidacy.<\/p>\n
Collins has also expressed an alignment with the president and Gov. Ron DeSantis in his campaign as well as a commitment to keeping Florida on its current path.<\/p>\n
However, DeSantis has not publicly endorsed Collins \u2014 a notable absence in a race where endorsements could prove decisive.<\/p>\n
When 10 Tampa Bay News asked directly about a potential endorsement, Collins declined to provide details about private conversations but said, \u201cI was handpicked by Governor DeSantis to be his lieutenant governor. When he put me in this position, he said, \u2018Jay is Day 1 ready.\u2019 \u2026 I have the governor’s back, and I know he has mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Republican primary field remains crowded, though much of the attention has centered on Collins and Donalds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the Democratic side, former Congressman David Jolly is emerging as a leading contender.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement, Jolly said Republicans are engaged in \u201ca hard family conversation\u201d and welcomed a general election matchup against whoever wins the GOP nomination.<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s gubernatorial primary is scheduled for Aug. 18, with the general election set for Nov. 3.<\/p>\n
The race comes as DeSantis reaches his term limit, leaving the governor\u2019s office open for the first time in eight years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lt. Governor Jay Collins and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds both spoke in the Tampa Bay area on Monday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-239637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239637","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=239637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}