- by foxnews
- 17 Aug 2025
The choice of state Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, makes the DeSantis-Collins team the only all-veteran executive state leadership pair in the country.
The governor was a judge advocate general (JAG) officer for the U.S. Navy and a rules-of-engagement legal advisor to Seal Team One during President George W. Bush's Iraq "surge."
DeSantis said Tuesday that while he commanded the operation from Tallahassee, it was Collins who chose to go to Israel and Jordan himself to help the U.S. citizens back to the safety of Tampa Bay.
"As our state senator from Tampa, he's been a man of action," DeSantis said of Collins.
"He has delivered conservative wins and I think has been one of the most productive senators we have had in modern Florida history and on all the big issues. He not only was an ally of mine, he was standing up for you."
In addition to his volunteerism in Israel, when hurricanes struck the lower Gulf Coast, Collins was on the ground feeding people and helping displaced residents through his charity, DeSantis said.
"Sen. Jay Collins is the Chuck Norris of Florida politics. And I am proud to announce today that I am appointing him to be the next lieutenant governor of the 'Free State of Florida.'"
"I really want to thank the governor and the first lady for their trust and their faith in myself and our family," Collins said after taking the dais.
"I didn t grow up with privilege or wealth. I was adopted. Raised on my grandparents. I watched my father pass away before I was really a man. And later chose to serve our nation to fight for a nation that afforded me every opportunity to climb out of those circumstances and rose up to be something new, something dynamic, something unique to my family," said Collins, who was born in a tiny Montana community near the Saskatchewan border.
"You see, I grew up in a trailer, but in our nation, you're not defined by that. There are opportunities ahead of everybody," he said.
Now California joins New York, Nevada, Florida, Hawaii, Oregon, and North Carolina has been significantly impacted by the downturn of tourism brought about due to a combination of factors. International and domestic visitors now have to deal with rising travel costs and skyrocketing airfare and accommodation prices. Further, safety concerns, negative perceptions, and traveling to the US are costs in and of themselves. Strict immigration policies are making it more difficult for foreign visitors to acquire travel visas which, compounded with the long-standing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, are fundamentally altering travel behavior and the public’s overall perception of travel. These realities have led to a marked decline in most tourism hot spots.
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