With just 15 days until the Republican gubernatorial Primary, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins still doesn’t have a direct answer as to why Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t endorsed him.
“In this race, I’m still the only person who he has not said no to. I’m still the only person who he handpicked to be the No. 2 person in the state of Florida. And ultimately, that matters more than you could ever imagine,” Collins told Jim DeFede.
Collins has advanced a series of theories about why the endorsement hasn’t come through, including recently saying DeSantis was avoiding a “proxy war” with President Donald Trump.
Collins has been dogged by allegations that he made threatening remarks to a third party about Taryn Fenske, a former policy staffer who moved to DeSantis’ political operation. The LG allegedly was upset that Fenske wasn’t convincing DeSantis donors and supporters to back him for Governor, even months before Collins launched his campaign.
DeFede did not bring up these allegations, but did suggest that there was “talk” that Collins’ relationship with DeSantis was “not necessarily fine.”
Collins dismissed that line of argument.
“I wouldn’t listen to what the bureaucrats say, or the people who are insiders. We’re fine. We have no issues.”
DeFede continued the inquiry, which Collins addressed with more platitudes about how he doesn’t know the Governor’s thoughts on the endorsement but that the relationship is fine.
“Well, politics is not just a simple thing, is it? Nothing has ever been just perfectly black and white in politics. There are so many pressure points. And I don’t know everything that goes on in his world. I don’t. But what I do know is he and I are good.”
Collins and DeSantis last appeared together on April 6.
A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski
August 5, 2026 at 11:20 am
If someone leaves you twisting in the wind like that, they are not your friend.
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