The pathway to winning a statewide election in Florida runs through Miami-Dade County, and Lt. Governor Jay Collins, who is challenging Rep. Byron Donalds for the Republican nomination for governor, believes that he has the upper hand in garnering the coveted Hispanic and Latino vote in the state’s most densely populated county.
During a recent media gaggle with reporters at the Sunshine State Showdown in Hollywood, Florida, Lt. Gov. Collins was asked by The Floridian why he was so focused on Miami-Dade County, and if he felt that Rep. Donalds had been neglecting the Latino vote in the ‘Miami Boogie Down.’
As expected, Lt. Collins took a jab at Rep. Donalds, accusing him of not engaging with Miami-Dade voters.
“I don't think he's spent a lot of time down in Miami. I haven't seen these people out there, and when I talk to folks, they're very interesting in what we have to say because they’re looking for real leaders, not people who talk about it on Fox News, people who they're on the ground leading and caring about what people think in little corner store, in the back parts of the Hialeah or anywhere else,” said Collins.
We then asked Collins how he related to Hispanics, and how he was more relatable to them than Donalds.
Collins answered by saying that he has been present in the county, and also invoked his past military experience to show that he understood the plight of the Hispanic diaspora against Communism in the Western Hemisphere.
“Having traveled all over South America, fighting in Colombia against the FARC, you know FARC and Venezuela and Cuba all worked together,” said Collins. “In the end, I have worked side by side with them in this fight against socialism with communism.”
Collins, who is a former U.S. Army Green Beret and possibly a former member of Delta Force, added that he understands the exiled communities of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia because of his experiences in South America.
In an earlier interview, we asked Collins if he would expand upon his assertion that he fought Communism in South America, but he pivoted and said that there was only so much that he could say about his military footprint abroad.
Donalds recently launched his Miami-Dade campaign at the famed Hialeah Park Race Track, where several hundred (mostly Cuban-American) constituents attended. Minus the absence of croquetas and cafecitos, the event went off without a hitch.
"If President Trump has his way, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has his way, we're going to see a free Cuba. Cuba libre! Cuba Libre!" said Donalds. "And a Free Cuba, free from tyranny, will always have a friend here in Florida."
Who will go over and beyond to win over the Cuban and exile community vote?
As our Cuban amigos would say, "Dale!"
