{"id":51135,"date":"2025-11-18T11:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T11:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/51135\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T11:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T11:56:09","slug":"florida-lt-gov-jay-collins-appears-to-take-shots-at-rep-byron-donalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/51135\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins appears to take shots at Rep. Byron Donalds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

Florida<\/a> Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who could potentially mount a gubernatorial bid in the Sunshine State, appears to be taking jabs at U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the candidate President Donald Trump has endorsed for governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Collins \u2014 who Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> tapped for the lieutenant governor role earlier this year \u2014 retweeted a post on X that appeared to juxtapose him and Donalds with the phrases “Tough as Nails” and “Soft as Soy.”<\/p>\n

“Hard times \u2192 Strong men,” Collins wrote<\/a> when retweeting the post. “Strong men \u2192 Good times,” he continued. “Good times \u2192 Weak men,” he added. “Weak men \u2192 Hard times.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

FLORIDA OFFICIAL CONFRONTS NEWSOM OVER CRASH TIED TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKER<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Florida <\/p>\n

Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins delivers remarks touting the state’s efforts in combating fentanyl and other illegal drugs as Gov. Ron DeSantis listens during a news conference at the FDLE Orlando Regional Operations Center, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“Traveling around the state with ZERO record and nothing but an endorsement to brag about is not good enough,” Collins declared in part of another post<\/a>, in which he later asserted, “Florida deserves better and I\u2019ve delivered.”<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to Donalds’ campaign for comment.<\/p>\n

REP. DONALDS: TRUMP HAS PROVEN HE IS THE \u2018PRESIDENT OF PEACE\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rep. <\/p>\n

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., in the spin room ahead of the first vice presidential debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Al Drago\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While interviewing Collins, CBS News Miami’s Jim Defede asked<\/a> the politician point blank, “Are you running for governor?”<\/p>\n

Collins replied by saying “we are just finalizin’ that plan.” He later said “we’ll put out our final decision here shortly. But we are really close to makin’ that \u2026 final call.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

DESANTIS PICKS \u2018THE CHUCK NORRIS OF FLORIDA POLITICS\u2019 AS NEW TOP DEPUTY<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Florida <\/p>\n

Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins watches during the United Football League’s announcement of the expansion team the Orlando Storm at Inter&Co Stadium on Oct. 7, 2025 in Orlando, Fla. (Mike Carlson\/UFL\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to President Trump’s<\/a> backing, Donalds has also been endorsed by GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.<\/p>\n

Business tycoon Elon Musk has also declared <\/a>that Donalds has his “full support.”<\/p>\n

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who could potentially mount a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32397,28,30,29,32395,32396,412],"class_list":{"0":"post-51135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-elections-state-and-local","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-governors","13":"tag-republicans-elections","14":"tag-ron-desantis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51135","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=51135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}