Jay Collins draws crowd in Hernando County, touts family and safety priorities

Jay Collins came to Hernando County with a message built around public safety, family priorities and the kind of state-county cooperation that resonates in a place where sheriff’s deputies, 911 operators and local commissioners all sit close to the center of daily life. The lieutenant governor’s latest stop put him in front of Republican activists in Brooksville and followed an earlier visit to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, where fentanyl, drug trafficking and border-related impacts were part of the discussion.

The Hernando County Republican Party listed its “Rock the Republic” gubernatorial candidate meet-and-greet for April 25 at Florida Cracker Bourbon Barn in Brooksville, and the Hernando County Association of Realtors said the evening featured four candidates for Florida governor: Collins, Bobby Williams, former House Speaker Paul Renner and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds. The turnout underscored how early the 2026 governor’s race is becoming a local event in Hernando County, where Republican voters are already being asked to weigh a crowded field.

Collins announced his run for governor on January 12 and has since been working to establish himself in a race that WUSF said includes Donalds, Renner and investor James Fishback, with more than 40 people eyeing the governor’s mansion. For Collins, Hernando offered a ready-made stage: a county where public safety conversations carry real weight, and where questions about crime, staffing and coordination between Tallahassee and county agencies can translate quickly into political support.

That local connection was on display March 4, when Collins visited the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office and met with Sheriff Al Nienhuis. The two discussed fentanyl, drug trafficking, border-related impacts on Florida communities, support for local law enforcement resources and coordination between state and county agencies. Collins also toured the emergency call center and said he was surprised by the volume of calls handled there, a reminder of how much pressure the county’s frontline responders absorb every day.

The visit came after Hernando County commissioners unanimously approved a grant-match funding request for body-worn cameras for sheriff’s deputies in October 2025, a decision that tied county budgeting directly to officer safety and accountability. In that context, Collins’ Hernando appearances were aimed at voters who want to know not just who is running, but what kind of help a candidate would bring back to Brooksville, Spring Hill and the rest of the county if the campaign reaches Tallahassee.