Florida Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, a former Green Beret whom Governor Ron DeSantis has called the «Chuck Norris of Florida politics», is urging Republicans to regroup and fight back after a difficult midterm cycle. In an interview with Fox News Digital days after the election, Collins said the party's standing is not yet settled and will be shaped by how Republicans respond to their losses.
Collins argued that the party must learn from the cycle rather than simply assign blame. He pointed to Florida as a proving ground for Republican strategy. The state has moved from a purple swing state to a GOP stronghold under DeSantis, and it is now the largest red state on the 2028 presidential map. DeSantis himself described the midterm losses as «near extinction-level», a phrase that underscores the scale of the setbacks for the party.
The results have prompted congressional Republicans to look for explanations, and the debate has become a public exchange over responsibility for national losses. Texas, a state Republicans have long considered secure, was lost to Democrats in this cycle. Collins's remarks add to a broader internal discussion about the direction of the party ahead of the next presidential contest.
A central point in Collins's argument concerns voters who do not identify with either party. He said Republicans underperformed with no-party-affiliated voters and argued that the party needs to be a bigger tent on conservative values. As evidence, he cited his own victory in a Tampa state Senate race, which he said came from reaching out to nonpartisan voters and lightly Democratic voters rather than relying only on the party base.
Collins's own political future remains open. He is termed out of his lieutenant governor post with DeSantis in January, and he is weighing a role in the state or national party. He has not committed to either option. Whether he pursues a larger role may depend in part on how the party's internal debate over the midterms develops.
Several major questions remain unresolved. The party has not yet chosen its 2028 presidential candidate, and it is not clear whether Republicans can recover from the losses of this cycle. Collins's message suggests that the answer will depend less on the verdict of the election itself than on what the party does next.