A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped short Wednesday of formally endorsing Lt. Gov. Jay Collins to succeed him. But DeSantis didn’t close the door either, suggesting the future is in the former state Senator’s hands.
“He’s got a fantastic record, Jay Collins does, and he could be a fantastic Governor,” DeSantis told radio host Jenna Ellis.
After spending some time outlining his oft-repeated tagline that Collins is the “Chuck Norris of Florida Politics,” DeSantis addressed the question of whether the LG should run for the top job next year.
Noting his belief that Collins has the “leadership capability to actually serve as Governor should that need arise,” DeSantis suggested there is something of a groundswell for the Tampa Republican to angle for a promotion from the Republican electorate.
“I think a lot of people are like saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to run,’ because they see his story, they see his record, and most people in Florida didn’t know who he was prior to last week. Now more people are getting to know him,” DeSantis said. “So he’s going to be making decisions about, you know, what he’s going to do in terms of campaigns.”
DeSantis added that he wouldn’t have appointed Collins had he not been “confident that he would be somebody that would not only continue Florida’s success, but build on it and take it to new levels.”
The looming question over Collins’ political future as a potential challenger to Republican front-runner Byron Donalds, of course, is the slow decision-making of First Lady Casey DeSantis, who continues to take her time amid ongoing speculation that she may enter the race.
Both the Governor and First Lady have suggested there is plenty of time for ambivalence.
“Politics will take care of itself. I mean, we have a whole year before we even have a Primary, and so that’s a lifetime in politics,” the Governor said last week.
Similarly, Casey DeSantis has suggested that people are “tired of politics” and said previously that it’s “more than a year from qualifying.”
For his part, Collins seems eager to run if given the green light to do so.
“When you’re talking about jobs like this or opportunities like this, I owe our state, our people, my family, our community, that due diligence to look into it, to make sure that that’s something that’s good for my wife and kids … good for my local community, good for our state … good for Governor DeSantis and the people around us. And if all those things come into alignment, then it’s something you look at,” Collins said in May.
