The Constitutional Squatter: Is Jay Collins Even Eligible to Lead?
If you’re looking for the heart of the modern GOP machine in our district, don’t look for a front porch. Look for a 5×5-inch metal slot at the UPS Store in Citrus Park. This seemingly innocuous mailbox, listed as the residence of a candidate, encapsulates the ‘Arrivals Lounge’ problem plaguing Senate District 14. By reducing the notion of residency to a mere mailing address, the powers in Tallahassee have transformed our community into a convenient waypoint for political hopefuls. We have become the Republican Party’s favorite stopover, a place where political tourists drop a carpetbag just long enough to get their voter registration card stamped before moving on to higher ambitions.1 Not long ago, we examined the curious case of ‘Kowtow’ and the GOP’s penchant for treating our community like a short-term rental—a place to drop a carpetbag just long enough to get a voter registration card stamped before moving on to higher ambitions. It seems the party has found its favorite “guest room” for candidates on the make.
The Nomadic Candidate: A Man in Search of a Zip Code
Before he was our Lieutenant Governor, Jarrid “Jay” Collins was a man in search of a zip code. Born and raised in Scobey, Montana, Collins spent over two decades in the Army Special Forces.2 It is a record of service that deserves respect, but military service is not a license to treat residency laws as optional suggestions. When Collins retired from the Army in 2018, he didn’t immediately head for the Florida sun; his public records show a timeline that remains suspiciously murky.
Collins officially moved to Florida in 2019, settling first in Pasco County.3 However, his political ambitions were not rooted in any single community. In a single election cycle, Collins managed to be “from” everywhere and nowhere at once. In July 2021, he announced a challenge to Kathy Castor in Florida’s 14th Congressional District (Tampa). By May 2022, he shifted his focus to the 15th Congressional District, encompassing East Hillsborough and Polk counties.4 Finally, after a high-level nudge and a glowing endorsement from Governor Ron DeSantis, he abruptly dropped his federal dreams to challenge for our State Senate seat in June 2022.5
The logistics of this “musical chairs” candidacy are revealing. When it came time to qualify for the State Senate race on June 16, 2022, the “local” candidate didn’t provide a residential street address where he slept, ate, or interacted with neighbors. Instead, he listed 7853 Gunn Highway, #238.6 For those unfamiliar with the neighborhood, that is a mailbox at a UPS Store in a shopping center. It is the ultimate symbol of the modern carpetbagger: a candidate who is reachable by mail but absent from the life of the community he seeks to lead. This wasn’t a choice of convenience; it was a choice of necessity for a man who had not yet planted roots in the district he was being “parachuted” into by the Governor’s machine.
The $16 Million Theater of the Absurd
The residency shell game was just the beginmonning. The “career” that funded this nomadic political rise is a masterclass in what scholars call patrimonialism, a system where the government is run like a private family firm, and public resources are used to sustain a class of loyalists.7 Before he was appointed Lieutenant Governor, Collins served as the Chief Program Officer (and eventually COO) for Operation BBQ Relief (OBR), a Missouri-based disaster-response nonprofit.8
On paper, OBR’s mission is noble: feeding those in need after a hurricane or flood. But under the hood, the organization’s financial filings reveal an entity that functions more like a political holding company. While OBR relies on the sweat of thousands of volunteers, its “C-suite” is remarkably top-heavy. In 2024, tax filings showed that CEO Stanley Hays drew $255,249, while Jay Collins drew a six-figure executive salary of $221,271.9
The most troubling evidence of this patrimonial system is the timing of OBR’s state windfall. In 2022, Jay Collins was elected to the Florida Senate and immediately appointed Chairman of the Agriculture Committee—a role with significant influence over disaster response, food security, and rural resource allocation.10 It is surely a “coincidence” that during his tenure, OBR’s state revenue surged. The organization received a staggering $16 million in state disaster relief contracts shortly after his victory.11
The first of these contracts was awarded just two weeks after his 2022 election.12 Many of these agreements were processed as “emergency procurements,” a mechanism that allows the administration to bypass traditional competitive bidding and oversight.13 It’s a convenient loop of power: The state awards the contracts to the nonprofit; the nonprofit uses that revenue to sustain a million-dollar executive payroll; and the executive (Collins) is freed from the burden of a traditional job to serve as a high-profile political surrogate for the Governor. As I’ve noted in previous essays, this is the “Theater of the Absurd” applied to the public purse. A system that hides behind complexity while steering contracts to the well-connected.14
The Arrivals Lounge: Parachuting into District 14
If you think Jay Collins was an anomaly, look at the transition that occurred the moment he was promoted. When Governor DeSantis appointed Collins as Lieutenant Governor on August 12, 2025, the vacancy in District 14 wasn’t filled immediately by the required special election, but was delayed so that District 14 voters wouldn’t be represented in the current (2026) regular session.
Now, Josie Tomkow, a third-generation cattle rancher who has spent her entire political career representing Polk County and House District 51, has been parachuted into the district.15 She is term-limited in her current House seat, so rather than retiring or seeking office in her own community, she is simply “checking in” to our district to keep the seat warm for the machine. This is the “Arrivals Lounge” in full effect. To the Tallahassee elite, Senate District 14 isn’t a community to be represented; it’s a “safe” parking lot where they can store their most loyal assets until a better job opens up. It is a betrayal of the very concept of local representation.
The Seven-Year Math: A Constitutional Crisis?
Beyond the ethical rot of the “Arrivals Lounge” strategy, there is a looming legal hurdle that the GOP seems to be ignoring in its rush to crown Collins. Article IV, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution is clear:
*”When elected, the governor, lieutenant governor and each cabinet member must be an elector not less than thirty years of age who has resided in the state for the preceding seven years.”*16
The 2026 General Election will take place on November 3, 2026. This means that to be eligible to serve on that ticket, Jay Collins must have established his legal, physical residency in Florida no later than November 3, 2019.17
Collins publicly states he moved to Florida in “2019,” but “moving” and “residing” are two different things in the eyes of the law. Establishing residency requires a “declaration of domicile,” voter registration, or a homestead exemption. If Collins’ official residency was not established until December 2019 or early 2020, **he is mathematically ineligible to be on the ballot for Governor.**18
When a candidate’s primary tie to a district as late as June 2022 was a UPS mailbox, it raises a fundamental question: Was that mailbox a convenience, or was it a desperate attempt to manufacture a “paper trail” for a residency that actually started too late to meet the constitutional threshold? The GOP is demanding special treatment, an exemption from the rules of residency, while they trample on the rights of everyone else.
The “Dark Money” Full Circle
Every “imported” candidate needs a manufacturer, and for Collins, that role is being played by a Delaware-based dark money group called “Florida Fighters.” This PAC has recently dumped at least $1.6 million into airwaves to boost Collins’ profile, even though he trails far behind established Florida residents like Congressman Byron Donalds in both polling and fundraising.19
The strategy is clear: bypass local GOP preferences and install a successor whose primary qualification is his proximity to the Governor’s inner circle. This is the “Warrior Dividend” in action, a payout for loyalty, funded by anonymous donors and protected by a legal shell in a different state. It is the institutionalization of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” philosophy, where a culture of fealty replaces public service to the executive branch.20
The Hard Truth of the Ballot
Elections are not abstract; they are transactions with real consequences. When you vote for a candidate like Jay Collins, you aren’t just voting for a “Green Beret” or a “BBQ Hero.” You are purchasing a system where loyalty-based governance replaces rule-bound competence. We see the results everywhere. Rural hospitals are closing, and farm debts are rising, while “warrior dividends” are promised but not funded.21
Jay Collins didn’t come to Florida to build a life; he came to fulfill a role in a patrimonial script. He is the latest traveler in the Senate District 14 “Arrivals Lounge,” passing through our community on his way to a promotion we never authorized. The question for us remains: Do we like what our votes have bought us?
Corruption thrives in silence but collapses under scrutiny.
Speak out. Show up. And remind Tallahassee that Senate District 14 is a community, not a parking lot.
Works Cited
News 6 WKMG. “Who’s paying for the Jay Collins ads flooding Florida airwaves?” YouTube, 2025. ↩
Ballotpedia. “Jay Collins (Florida).” Biography and Military Career. ↩
Wikipedia. “Jay Collins (politician).” Political Career and Residency. ↩
Wikipedia. “2022 U.S. House Campaigns: Jay Collins.” ↩
LobbyTools. “Former Florida Senator Jay Collins (R).” Legislative Service and Highlights. ↩
Division of Elections. “Official Candidate Records for Jay Collins.” 2022. ↩
Rauch, Jonathan. “One Word Describes Trump: Patrimonialism.” The Atlantic, 2025. ↩
Home Base. “Jay Collins, Florida State Senator, District 14 Mini-Bio.” ↩
ProPublica. “Operation BBQ Relief Nonprofit Explorer.” 2024 Tax Filings. ↩
Florida Senate. “Agriculture Committee Membership and Leadership: Jay Collins.” 2022. ↩
Orlando Sentinel. “Jay Collins won state contracts during his Senate stint.” Jeffrey Schweers, September 2025. ↩
Florida Nurses Association. “Legislative Update: Jay Collins State Contracts.” September 2025. ↩
The Capitolist. “Florida raises continuing contract limits to $7.5 Million.” May 2024. ↩
Essay. “United Healthcare and the Theater of the Absurd.” B. John Masters , 2025. ↩
Florida House of Representatives. “Official Biography: State Representative Josie Tomkow.” ↩
Florida Constitution. “Article IV, Section 5: Election of governor, lieutenant governor and cabinet members; qualifications.” ↩
Florida Senate. “Bill Analysis: Residency Requirements for Certain Public Officers.” April 2025. ↩
Florida Division of Elections. “Guidelines for Determining When Residency Qualifications for Elected Office Must be Met.” ↩
YouTube. “News 6 Investigative Reports: Jay Collins Ads.” Justin Warmoth, 2025. ↩
Essay. “Patrimonialism: When the State Becomes a Business.” B. John Masters, 2025. ↩
Report. “Impact of Federal Budget Cuts on Rural Healthcare.” 2025. ↩
